


SAO: The Spirit Blades

by IreliaYuuki



Category: Sword Art Online
Genre: Adventure, F/F, F/M, Family, Friendship, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-12
Updated: 2016-10-17
Packaged: 2018-08-14 16:48:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8021554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IreliaYuuki/pseuds/IreliaYuuki
Summary: Maho is a successful daughter of the Yuuki family and older sister to Asuna Yuuki. Shino is a friend of Maho's and Kazuto's. But what Kazuto didn't know was that Maho was a Alpha tester of SAO and Shino got a beta key from said girl. How will things in the death game turn out with some extra Unique Skills and three extra friends for Kazuto?





	1. The First Day

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Hello and welcome to my 1st story on this site. This is a SAO AU fanfic where Asuna has a big, LoL playing sister and Sinon is also a beta-tester of SAO. Constructive criticism is appreciated as well as feedback. Anyways, if there are any typos and grammar errors please contact me and I shall correct them. Note: I don't intend to make this story a SAO/LoL crossover fanfic as there will be only tiny bits of LoL mentioned and you do not need to know the game to understand this story.
> 
> Also, a HUGE shoutout to Gashadokuro Amanojaku from FF.net for pointing out the plot holes in this first chapter. It is also he who beta-read the reworked chapter. Thank you! :)
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> ~Irelia Yuuki
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own SAO/LoL and do not claim ownership to its characters/story/general stuff

It was a warm day in the month of May and Asada Shino was sitting in the cafeteria of the Kokusai high school as she saw the new girl come into the cafeteria. She had beautiful, large green eyes that complimented her crimson lips and straight, sorta small nose well. Her waist-long, smooth onyx-colored hair stood a nice contrast to her pure alabaster skin. She was surrounded by so many boys that you could only barely make out the tiny spotlets of black that consisted of her black sweater. A bone-piercing cold cry broke the regular chatter of the cafeteria.

"WOULD you PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE?!"

With that, most of the boys' shoulders just slumped forward and they walked away. Then, the mysterious girl sat down across of Shino.

"Hey Shino. Long time no see. Still remember me?"

After Shino had caught up with the girl actually sitting down with her, she recognized the person. It was Maho Yuuki. The 2nd child of the Yuuki family. A genius in her own right, she graduated from MIT (with a PhD in both IT and physics) just a few days ago, at the age of 15, having done elementary school at 6 and graduating secondary school at the tender age of 12. But why was she here now? She was also a very skilled gamer, as she is ranked in multiple international online gaming leaderboards of different genres, ranging from FPS to RTS games. Furthermore, she had 2 accounts in the game "League Of Legends" ranked in challenger, this being a smaller but relevant achievement in games. (The larger ones being some international gaming tournaments she had won)

"Maho? Why are you here?" "Well, I graduated from MIT Massachusetts a few days ago… And as I know your story, I'm here to back you up. The principal has agreed under the condition that my tests and results are not calculated into the school's average score and that I do not contribute anything to the classes. Also, I _know_ that you are being bullied. So, why not, as strings are fairly easy to pull if you are in my position…"

' _Though he simply agreed when I said that I wanted a bit of a social life now that I am back in japan,_ ' the girl thought, not mentioning this to Shino.

At that comment, Shino thought, understanding, ' _so that's why she is here now…_ '

"Maho, are you serious about this? I mean I don't want to tarnish your reputation. Also, _I know_ that your mom wouldn't appreciate you being here." "I am sure, of course. Mom is another issue. She knows your story but, as a long-time friend of your mother's, she let me go. By the way, have you met the new dude, what's his name again? Kazuto?"

Deciding to just drop the matter on how Maho was here, Shino simply went along with it, understanding that her childhood friend just wanted to help.

"Yea, he's an ok guy but seems like he's the second person to get me real mad…" To that, Maho just put on a mischievous smirk. "Seems like I'm not alone then. Oh, yeah, by the way, I have a gift for you. Because I am a top challenger with 2 accounts, I got you a beta to the game 'Sword Art Online'. I will participate beginning with the alpha because I was randomly chosen as 1 of 250 alpha testers. So I'll see you in the beta."

Shino just thought ' _oh great, a game…_ ' but simply accepted the gift. "Thanks."

The next few weeks went uneventful for both Shino and Maho. Shino befriended Kazuto and, well, he was also popular. Due to this, Maho and Kazuto became fast friends with her and the 3 teens hang out together when they could.

This attracted the attention and envy of Endou, though, who decided to just bully Shino to the ground as she also knew the black-haired girl's secret. One day, she just grabbed Shino's arm and dragged her into an alleyway.

"So, Shino, what are you doing with Maho-chan and Kazuto-kun?" She asked. "Make sure that you stay away from them both, you're a filthy killer that doesn't deserve them." "Endou, I am not doing anything to them, apart from being the-"Her sentence ended as she saw Endou form a pistol with her hand. "Boom."

With that, Shino broke down with a scream, her memories hitting back at her, the very memories she tried to forget every day. Tears started falling as the stench of sulfur and blood came at her full force. Eventually, Shino got torn out of her memories by a cold, ice cold voice.

"Endou, what are you doing?" Endou just turned to the entrance of the alleyway and covered Shino with her silhouette. "Nothing?" she replied, getting a little nervous.

"Endou, why not let Shino step out of the shadows and tell the truth. Haven't you had enough bullying her for a few years already?" At this, Endou paled, knowing that Maho had more than enough ways to stomp both her social and private life into the ground.

"What are you talking about? I am not doing anything. Am I, Shino-chan?" She sounded, desperate to get herself out of this situation.

"Bullshit. I know for a fact that you are bullying Shino with her past, because I know her story and saw you acting toxic towards her all the time. Now get lost before I choose to publish the stories I dug up from your past. Because if i would do that, oh boy... those dudes would have a new victim." At that, Shino decided to look up, seeing that it was Maho who arrived at the scene.

With that, Endou snapped. "JUST GET AWAY! WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO BE POPULAR?!" she then just ran away.

"Shino, are you okay?" Maho's voice sounded, suddenly back to the caring tone of voice she usually had. Shino just froze, not knowing what to do as another figure popped up, clad in black clothes, unlike Maho, who wore a long yellow summer dress. "Maho, what's going on here?" he asked.

Shino recognized the voice as Kazuto's as Maho spoke up yet again. "Endou was bullying Shino around, using her past to destroy her." With that, Shino decided to stand up. Thanking them for the save, and telling them that she just wanted to go home. Hearing that, the two walked her home.

The time for the closed alpha stage of SAO had finally come. Being the gamer that she was, Maho went into the alpha stage the first minute the server opened up. Being the first to be able to create her character was a nice perk, as all the names would be free.

She chose her name after the favorite champ of hers in League (in other words: the champ that she carried her way to challenger with), meaning that **Irelia** was her name from now on.

The appearance of the character was vastly different though. Instead of the red armored clothing and the gigantic blade the champion possessed, the avatar had a white starter shirt and a **Small Sword** equipped. Being female, the avatar also had a matching skirt that reached down to the knees with jet-black stockings, with fittingly black shoes adorning her feet as she stood there. The face was a perfect copy of Maho's, with a few years in difference, apart from the baby-blue eyes and blonde hair. Frowning at the sight, she just changed the avatar's eyes into a clear, shining emerald color and the previously hair to strands of flowing onyx, matching her 'real' appearance. Then, she changed the starter shirt's color into a dark blue and chose the **hooded** option. This option equipped the character with a hooded cape with infinite durability and no stat boosts, thus being purely cosmetic. (The attacks would just tear through the cloth with full strength, ripping it apart. The hood would regenerate when the player is not in combat, much like a passive mending characteristic. This mechanic was also used for other cosmetic clothing items.) The coat itself though looked good. Making one final change at her skirt, she changed its color into a darker blue than the shirt, noticing a white trim at the bottom of the skirt. With that, the character creation was complete.

Spawning in the **Starting City** , she gained her bearings. ' _Wow, such a large city. And this on floor 1. I wonder what the other towns look like. Also, such great detail that went into this. According to the manual, there must be 99 more cities like this…_ " After that first look around, Irelia tried to walk… which ended with her falling face first to the floor. ' _I've got to work on the walking…_ ' She thought as she tried heaving herself off the floor. ' _… and on my arm movements, too…_ '

The rest of the 2 month long alpha test went by as uneventful as it possibly could have been. The few bugs that were there have been fixed and it was a nice experience all along, as there were no game-breaking bugs. (The few minor bugs found were almost always fixed the day afterwards, being live-logged and fixed in the nightly server reset.) Irelia was now at level 23, whilst reaching floor 11, which resulted in her being recognized as the strongest player in the alpha.

In the last week of the alpha, Kayaba Akihiko announced a knock-out type tournament where everybody could participate in, the prize being a Unique Skill and a weapon to go with it, and a privilege to keep one item, apart from the prize, 10% of the XP (all of the proficiencies will be reset on release), and 5% of the currently owned col in the beta and the release.

Everybody was allowed to sign up. But many were actually discouraged by the top-25 players already signed up, thus resulting in roughly 75 entries from the testers.

The tournament was to be held in an arena especially made for 3 dimensional combat, not limiting the players vertically, giving their skills a fair chance, thus allowing the weak people to be able to outplay the stronger ones.

What Kayaba didn't know though, is that Maho gathered a lot of experience of 3-D movement since she was (almost) always messing with acrobatics in-game. To state a fact, it is also because she has a very advanced spatial awareness that enabled her to pull this off. Also, her fair share of gaming experience helped her a lot in the end, as the raw skill of hers proved to be pretty much unmatched in the alpha, bringing her into the finals with relative ease.

So, the player that she met in the finals was a gamer who called himself **Pale Rider**. He had boosted all his stats into AGI and used a speed boosting dagger, resulting in a fairly even fight. That amount of speed combined with skill proved enough to be able to skillfully dodge and weave in the 3-D movement map and, eventually, get to Irelia. But due to the lack of damage the dagger had, Irelia almost always out-traded Pale Rider and simply finished him, choosing to take the hits and go for the tournament-winning kill.

With that, she had gained the Unique Skill called **Spirit Blades: Hiten** and a weapon called **Chronokeeper**. It was a four-bladed floating weapon with a small golden sphere in the center. The blades themselves were all similar; a straight, handle-less sword with a single edge forged out of golden colored metal. The transparent fuller consisted of metallic colored gears of various size, most only partially displayed. Also, the cross guard is a quarter of a circle with two spikes protruding outwards and one spike over the fuller.

' _This is simply ironic. I chose the name of my favorite champion and now I get the matching weapon._ ' Irelia thought, ' _Even the name of the fighting style is the same._ '

Upon further examining the weapon, she found out that it was able to equip a light weapon whilst commanding the blade (and one was able to use both the equipped weapon's and the Chronokeeper's Sword Skills at the same time), as it was autonomously floating around and awaiting the command of the mind.

Also, the weapon has a passive called **Variability** ; a unique passive to this sword that gives it varying other passives depending on what sword skills one used. Also, this gives the **Chronokeeper** damage scaling to the level of mastery and the player's XP, making the **Chronokeeper** one of the strongest weapons of the game.

But, as we all know, strength comes at a price. The largest drawback is called **Spirit Bonds** ; it lowered the defensive values of the user once the sword, or parts of it, are farther than 1.5m away from the user (the distance will scale with the mastery level, eventually ending at 2.5 meters). Once that happened, the defensive stats got a huge hit down, which would then decline farther the farther the blade was. On maximum range (15m) even a boar on the first floor could one hit kill you. This was made so that abusing the **Chronokeeper** 's range couldn't be done unless one wanted to get punished really hard for it.

The last passive though is what makes the weapon special. It's called **Adaptability** ; one could copy a sword skill of choice at mastery level 500 and 1000, but only if it was a skill for a one-handed sharp weapon (one handed axe, rapier, sword, dagger and similar). If the copied skill is executed, the blades will follow the path of the blade and effectively skyrocket the hit amount by 5 times. The skills themselves had also got a much higher cooldown and freeze period though, while the actual sword skills of the **Chronokeeper** are freeze-less, being autonomous, though the cooldowns of the skills were at least a tenfold of the normal ones.

Seeing this, Irelia decided to also equip her **Sabre Ciel** , a sky-blue rapier and try fighting.

At first, she needed to accustom herself to the presence of the blades and activating sword skills. After a long day of fighting though she learned to use the blades to strike, without skill (which did almost no damage at all, unless you really planned out a strike), whilst striking out with her rapier.

In the end, she sold everything apart from the **Mimung** , a rapier acquired as a last-hit bonus from the 10th floor boss. This rapier wasn't upgraded so the **Sabre Ciel** was effectively stronger than the newer rapier's base stats. In the end, she got a message that she would get a XP bonus for 2 weeks, a special coat for alpha testers of which you could customize the color and an extra non-combat skill slot, along with every other alpha-tester of the game.

Two weeks after the alpha ended, the closed beta began. Asada Shino created herself a character named **Sinon** and got to play the game, thanks to her best friend, Maho.

That girl wasn't able to participate in the beta, though, as she got a few sudden problems with her certificate of graduation, resulting in her getting back to the US for 4 weeks (with 2 of them being purely vacation).

The character itself resembled Shino's real face, with a few sharper contours and a pointier jawline, the main difference being the ice-blue eyes and turquoise hair.

Sinon then met Kazuto in the game, not knowing that it was him, as he was in the character of **Kirito**. The two became good friends, like in real life, and eventually came out as the two best players in the game; Sinon infamous for ranged attack accuracy and Kirito for one of the fastest reaction times in the whole beta.

The players in the beta got a few perks, such as a XP bonus for 1 week, a special cloak given to beta testers, allowing them to customize the color of said cloak without remaking it (the stat boosts were still nonexistent), and an extra non-combat skill slot (those could be acquired on release with an Easter-egg, and don't stack, meaning that you didn't get two skills extra, participating in the alpha and beta.). Extra starting col was also included, being 2.5% of their current col.

Knowing this, they both sold every item in their inventories on the last day of beta and decided to go to a café as their last act in the game.

The pair had a nice conversation until Kirito asked a somewhat weird question. "Sinon, you _are_ a girl, right?" "Of course I am. What did you expect?" Came her prompt answer, in a fairly angry tone. "Well, I have this friend in real life… and I wanted to spend time with them, but the beta got in the way and I got addicted to this… what should I do?" This caught Sinon by surprise, as she also had a friend with whom she spent a lot less time with since the beta. "To be true, I also have the same problem on my hands. If I were you, I'd just go and talk to them. That's the best solution." "Thanks!"

With that reply, the conversation went back to normal and they eventually logged off, after promising each other to meet in the release as well.

~2 days after the beta

Shino was sitting in the school cafeteria and thought about the SAO beta and her partner in-crime, Kirito, as she noticed two familiar faces walking towards her.

Putting on an apologetic smile, she said, at the same time as Kazuto: "Sorry."

Kazuto then frowned, asking her what was wrong. "Oh, I'm just apologizing for my business in the last month…" then, Kazuto simply smiled.

"I did also have a lot less time the last month, wanting to climb in League and betaing a game at the same time isn't easy, though… well, whatever. Maho, you up for a game of duo-queue tonight?"

Kazuto smiled even more as Maho nodded her affirmative and bade them farewell. She had class after all. This meant for Kazuto that his promotion series into master would go successful to say the least.

~A few days later:

Maho and Kazuto were sitting on a bench, rambling on about games after Shino left, giving them a bit of time together whilst she was preoccupied with class. (The two decided to keep shut about their gaming passion when Shino was present, as she found such things rather boring.)

"So, Kazuto, how do you find the VRMMO tech?" The older student asked, causing a surprised look to form on Kazuto's face.

"Well, I guess it's decent, not that bad, though I am not interested. Why?" He replied, not wanting to say something wrong, as Maho did mostly play old-school games.

Maho actually frowned as she really wanted to tell Kazuto that she had another NerVGear at home, which was not in use, and that Shino and her were going to play SAO.

Hearing him not interested threw her off a bit, leading to her not saying anything about that again. "Nothing. It popped up not so long ago and I wanted to know how you felt about it. That's all."

The next few months flew by like nothing and November the first soon came. The friends all met up in the morning as SAO would launch at 1 PM.

Sinon and Kazuto still don't know about each-other's characters in the beta. Although Shino knew about Maho playing SAO, she didn't ask about her in-game name as she had a partner already. (Also, one had to take her shyness into account, resulting in her not telling Kazuto that she was beta-testing SAO.)

One could also say that Kazuto felt indifferent about it, not knowing that the two girls played SAO, and not thinking about Maho being interested in VRMMO tech.

Eventually they disbanded to get online into SAO, as it was about lunchtime and the launch of the game would come soon.

~Maho's POV (1st person)

I heard my sister asking me if I would allow her to use onii-chan's NerVGear that he bought last week. Not thinking that there would be any complications, I agreed. After giving her my approval, she went ahead and got herself linked up. "I'm going to play SAO for a while, be back at 5." "OK" came her reply.

Looking at the clock, I saw that it was already 12:55. Connecting my NerVGear to the computer and inserting my copy of SAO, I laid down on my bed and waited for the hour to pass, knowing that I'd have to find Shino.

As the clock hit 1 pm, I shouted: "Link Start!" After that, I was asked whether I chose the **Advanced Login** (start with the little bonuses from the alpha) or the **Normal Login** (start anew like any other player). Choosing the **Advanced Login** option, I was asked if I wanted to change the appearance of my avatar, whose face was essentially my face plus a few years.

Finding these settings alright, I just entered the game, along with everybody else, as I took on my in-game name. Whilst running around town, I was opening my gifts from the alpha test stage and checking buffs and nerfs to the items I had;

The **Mimung** 's AGI and DMG were nerfed a bit, also its residual effects have partially been removed, and the DEF reduction for the **Chronokeeper** has been slightly increased.

Now I doubt that the beautiful Rapier will be the Last-Hit Bonus for the 10th floor boss, but rather a quest reward or a rare monster drop, as the residual effects were what made the blade so special, and I needed to be even more careful when using a little larger range.

As I was level 6 (kept some of my XP from the alpha stage) I had 4 skill slots, of which 3 were spent; **Spirit Blades: Hiten** , **One-Handed Rapier** and **Acrobatics**.The 4th skill slot was a non-combat skill, so I chose **Sprint** , as I didn't need nor use that before.

Then, I hid my level and general stats using the privacy options in the game, hoping not to attract the attention of any noobies in the game.

After a while, I saw a red-headed guy talking to a way too handsome man in his late 20's in an alleyway. Deciding to remember their names as the word "Beta-tester" fell, I read their names; **Kirito** and **Klein**.

Making a mental note, I wrapped around a corner just to see the town gates appear. I exited the town gate whilst thinking what Shino would do in the game.

~Shino's & Kazuto's POV (3rd person)

Shino logged into the game with a happy look on her face as she reentered the world of SAO. Then, the one thing on her mind was to find her partner, Kirito. Knowing that she had a slightly increased amount of starting col from the beta, she made for the shops, even finding some rare steel throwing knives, which tore up a lot of her budget.

After equipping herself with an ornate looking, black bladed dagger called **Ebony Wing** , (that alone cost her half of her col, as it was one of these one-time only offers that randomly popped up. These were mostly expensive, but worth it, having great upgrade potential and decent base stats), and some light armor, she was fine heading to the fields, investing her skill points in **One-Handed Dagger** , **Blade Throwing** and **Searching** for the non-combat skill slot.

Knowing that she still had stat points to spend, she spent two points in AGI and one in STR, as the dagger was AGI based and you needed STR to effectively use **Blade Throwing**. After that, she headed out into the fields, her intuition telling her that she would find Kirito in the fields.

Meanwhile Kirito has logged into SAO. Clutching his fist and grinning to himself, he made out for the shops whilst taking two points in STR and one point in AGI.

Being level 1, he chose the **One-Handed Sword** and the **Battle Healing** Skills, also having **Searching** for his non-combat skill slot. Looking at his **Small Sword** , he frowned. He had to get the **Anneal Blade** quite soon if he was to get any one-handed long swords at this stage.

Running to the gates of the **Starting City** , he stopped as he heard someone calling. "Hey! Wait up!"

After turning around, he saw a red-headed man talking to him. "What's up?" Kirito asked. "You're from the beta, right? I see it in the way you move. Could you teach a newb the ropes? Oh yeah, names Klein by the way"

Considering his options, Kirito thought that training Klein didn't come with any direct disadvantages, he accepted. "Ok. So what type of player do you want to become? My name's Kirito, by the way. Nice to meet you." "I want to become a super tanky samurai!" Came his reply, which made Kirito chuckle. "Well, let's hurry and get supplies. I don't want to keep my partner waiting." With that, the two people made their way to the fields after visiting the shops.

(On the fields)

"Owwwww! That hurts!" Klein grunted, clutching his crotch after a boar hit him in said part of the body. "It doesn't really hurt, though…" Kirito said. "Oh, force of habit."

Kirito then told Klein that the secret in using sword skills was in the starting motion, picking up a pebble and throwing it. Klein tried to get a sword skill activated as Kirito pointed out that he should try waiting for the skill to build up and, eventually let it go. Klein did just that and unleashed a **Reaver** sword skill, killing the boar that Kirito brought to half-life.

"Wow, I knew that you were here, Kirito-kun" came a calm voice, causing the boy to turn around. "Sinon! How have you been?" To Klein he said: "Klein, this is Sinon, my partner from the beta test. She-"

"Hello! My name's Klein. I'm 24, single and-"

His sentence was interrupted by Kirito, who hit Klein in the crotch. Sinon, obviously annoyed, thanked Kirito for his quick reaction. After that, they went grinding and grinding. And after that, even more grinding.

(The same day 5:25 PM, fields outside the starting city)

The three people were up on a hillside, enjoying the view. As Klein suddenly brought up the subject of logging off because he had a pizza which was to arrive in 5 minutes. Swiping in the air for his menu to pop up, he frowned as he didn't see the logout button he was searching for.

"Err… Kirito, there's no logout button…" "What? It's right th-" Kirito stopped talking as he too swiped up his menu and saw that the logout button was missing indeed. "What the…" Sinon muttered.

Kirito was the first to regain his composure. "Maybe it's a bug. I guess that it'll be fixed soon… but such a bug? On release? It didn't happen in the beta, though… and the GM's aren't responding"

After that, a bell rang, echoing through the whole floor and a blue light engulfed each of the three players. As the light subsided, they found themselves in the central plaza.

Whilst briefly wondering what was going on, Kirito spoke up. "A forced teleport?" Noticing that probably every other player logged into SAO was here too, thoughts started swimming in his head, which were then interrupted by Sinon, who was pointing at a hexagon in the sky. "There! A System announcement notice!"

The hexagons quickly spread, covering the entire sky of the floor. Then, a red liquid poured out of the borders of the hexagons, forming a sphere, and eventually a hooded man.

" **Welcome, players of Sword Art Online, to my world. My Name is Kayaba Akihiko and I am the GM of this VRMMORPG. As many if not all of you have already noticed, there is no logout button. This is NOT a bug. I repeat. This is NOT a bug. This is how it is supposed to be.** "

' _Oh Shit_ ' Kirito thought as Kayaba continued.

" **You cannot log yourselves out of the game. Nobody from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the NerVGear on your head. Should they still try to do so, the NerVGear will discharge an overly strong microwave signal to destroy your brain, thus ending your life. Despite me distributing a warning before this announcement, 213 careless families or friends have tried to remove the helmet and now must pay the price.** "

"What?!" Klein shouted, "That many? Impossible!"

" **Seeing this, all of you can rest assured that your experience in Aincrad will be undisturbed. Also, if your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be erased from the system and, simultaneously, the NerVGear will destroy your brain.** "

Kirito froze. ' _This is absolutely insane! If you die in-game, your real body dies as well._ '

" **There is only one way you can escape now. At the moment, you're at floor 1 of the castle Aincrad. Beat all the 100 floors and the final boss and all players shall be free to return to the outer world.** "

With that, Kazuto snapped back to reality. ' _Resources and XP are limited, items will get rarer the farther we go. There is only one way to survive. Be fast, get strong, and beat the game._ ' Shino seemed to have calmed down from the initial shock too. In her mind, it was pretty much the same thing. But she was also wondering about Maho's whereabouts.

" **This marks the end of the tutorial of Sword Art Online. To commemorate that, I have sent you all a gift. Please examine your inboxes.** "

The three opened their inboxes, along with everybody else, to find a **Hand Mirror** in each of their inboxes. Taking them out, blue light once again engulfed the people. This time, the entire plaza was affected as well. As the light subsided, they looked into the mirror.

Kirito had a much more effeminate face and his hair got slightly shorter and his eyes a little bit rounder. Now, he didn't look like **Kirito** anymore, but rather like Kazuto Kirigaya.

Sinon met the same fate, her eyes and hair returning to their normal dark grey/black coloring, the jawline becoming rounder and the face in general changing into a younger version of itself.

Klein wasn't even recognizable anymore, though. His hair got short and spiky, his jaw flat and bearded, and his face in general changed into the edgier direction.

After overcoming the shock that their avatar's current appearances resembled their real life counterparts, Kirito recognized Sinon as Shino, and likewise with Sinon recognizing Kirito as Kazuto. Then, Kayaba Akihiko decided to interrupt the little moment of shock the two friends were sharing.

" **As you all can see, I have changed your avatar's look to resemble the faces and bodies of your current selves. This Marks the creation of your new reality. I hope you enjoy the stay in my world.** "

With that, the man that trapped 10.000 people in a virtual reality disappeared. Kirito was the first to take action. Pulling Sinon and Klein out into a little alleyway, thus escaping the chaos that ensued immediately after that as a result.

"Guys, XP and Col are limited, so we've got to go. Now. The mobs on the nearby fields are gonna be wiped out in no-time. I know another town that is not very far from here. The route, although dangerous, is not difficult to manage. So I, or better, we as in Sinon and I, want you to come along, Klein." Came Kirito's quick explanation.

Klein frowned. He had a few friends that were back at the plaza that were waiting for him there. Knowing this, he declined the offer. "Thanks, Kirito, but I can't accept your offer. I've got a few friends that will need my help. I will teach them what you taught me, so they will survive this death game." "So this is goodbye then." Kirito concluded. "Yeah. But do me a favor. Don't die." "Will do!" These were the last words that Kirito spoke to Klein before he ran off in direction **Horunka**.

After a while, Kirito spoke up. "Shino?" "Yes, Kazuto?" "Why have you joined SAO? I thought you aren't into gaming" "Well, I got my NerVGear and beta key from Maho, who won it being at the top of the challenger division."

Then, a blush crept over Sinon's face out of nowhere. 'So he was consulting me about… me!' "So why did you consult me about… me? You knew that I couldn't be mad at you for something as trivial as that…" "I dunno, just felt like you could." Sinon chuckled.

"Oh yeah, how should I call you?" He asked. "How about Sinon in public and Shino if it's just us two? Oh. How about you by the way?" "Well, I think the same would work for me" he concluded, stopping the conversation there as the two friends made their way towards the village of **Horunka**.

~Maho's PoV (3rd person)

' _Well, I'll be damned._ ' she thought. ' _I've got to find Shino. And quickly so._ '

Putting herself in the younger girl's mindset, she knew that Shino would probably head to **Horunka** , a small village located in the northwest of the **Starting** **City**. Still mildly annoyed that her appearance has become like her real-life image, she made her way to the northwest, activating her **Sprinting** skill. But little does she know that more than one person close to her was trapped in Kayaba Akihiko's death game.

To be continued.


	2. Friend or foe, who shall know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hello and welcome to the 2nd chapter of my fanfiction. In this chapter, plot is going to happen. Maho is going to meet with Kazuto and Shino. Asuna won't actually appear when they're grinding, as it happened in the light novels, but rather in the boss meeting, where she joins the party of Kirito & Co. This is a fully intentional point as Maho should be surprised and such, having her little sister in the game.
> 
> Anyways, if you found any typos and/or grammar errors, leave a PM. If you like the story, feel free to leave a review, I'd very much appreciate it.
> 
> Also, a thank you to Gashadokuro Amanojaku from FF.net for betaing this chapter, although he didn't find any major plot holes this time (apart from the ones now edited) ;)
> 
> Enjoy! :)
> 
> ~Irelia Yuuki
> 
> For disclaimers: view first chapter disclaimers.

~Unknown PoV

' _I shouldn't have given her that unique skill in the alpha. Being the gamer that she was, though, she went into the game anyways. Well, that will work out._ ' A person clad in a lab coat and dress pants was thinking to himself. ' _Now I just need to find the other worthy ones._ '

'… _Implementing archery as an extra skill was actually a risky idea. But as there are no assists whatsoever, I think that it won't be easy to get and even more difficult to use. This skill is in my opinion extremely rewarding but also punishing, should one neglect the low damage. I just hope that there will be someone to acquire the skill.'_

~Maho's PoV (1st person) (November 1st, 2022)

I activated my **Sprinting** Skill that I've just recently acquired and made my way to Horunka, equipping my cosmetic cape I acquired in the character creation page. I know that there are no specific hunger or exhaustion related debuffs, so the only mentionable thing would be mental fatigue, which a nap will fix.

Right now, though, I needed to overtake Shino to get to **Horunka** , slaughtering away the monsters whilst doing so. Also, I wanted to make it a safer trip for her whilst keeping my **Unique Skill** a secret.

After a while of sprinting, I saw two black-haired people walking along the road, the male slightly taller than the female character. Assuming that this was Shino and somebody else, I just sprinted past them.

' _Now the fun begins'_ I thought, whilst unsheathing my **Mimung** and the **Chronokeeper** , and started slaughtering everything. The wolves didn't even stand a chance as the **Mimung** 's damage output was so high that even a light hit could kill them from full HP, and the **Chronokeeper** spinning closely around me prevented any wolves to get too close..

With that in mind, I reached **Horunka** in no time. ' _They better go to the shop_ ' I thought, as I left a note saying:

" _ **Hello, Shino. Meet me tomorrow morning at 9 AM in front of the two-story house. See you there. Maho**_ "

With that, I got myself an inn room and went to sleep, as sprinting and fighting all day did take its toll on me.

~Kazuto's and Shino's PoV (3rd person); Time skip: -5 hours

The two teenagers were on their way to **Horunka** as they saw a dark-blue clad figure sprint past them. Kirito and Sinon were shocked to say the least, as they thought that these speeds at this level was impossible. "Somebody must've invested all three stat points into AGI and have the **Sprinting** skill." Kirito mused.

Sinon simply nodded as she drifted around in her own thoughts, most of them being about Maho. ' _Where is she right now… I suppose that she will be meeting up with us soon._ '

Little did she know that the girl she was thinking about would be roaming in their destination when they arrived at **Horunka**.

~Time skip: 4.8 hours.

Sinon had separated from Kirito as she made her way to the shop district whilst Kazuto went to the inn, securing them a room. Her thoughts now were spinning mainly around the hooded person that they encountered. ' _She must've slaughtered all the mobs on the way. Just who is she?_ '

Opening the door that led to a shop, she stumbled on a little piece of paper stuck on the door. It read: " _ **Hello, Shino. Meet me tomorrow morning at 9 AM in front of the two-story house. See you there. Maho**_ " putting together all the pieces, she figured out that the person in the hood was actually Maho. This made her wonder how to break to Kirito that her long-time friend was probably screwed, as she used her skill slots and stat points wrongly, forgetting that Maho was an alpha tester of SAO.

~Kirito's PoV (1st person)

I was walking to the inn as I saw the hooded figure from before going up the stairs that led to the room. ' _How has she survived so far?_ ' I was asking myself as I got us a room to live in. After that, I made for the blacksmith for a sword-mending.

After the mending was completed, I messaged Shino that she should meet me at the two-story house in five minutes.

Said time later, my blue-haired friend came, confusion written in her pale-blue eyes (she changed her hair- and eye color back to how it was). "What's up?" I wondered, as Shino was indeed a bit off. "Well… I have a lead as to who we met on the road here… And I feel like you won't like it." Came her reply.

' _Well, what could I say? At least Maho isn't in this game with us…_ ' I thought as Shino continued by showing me a note, saying that she found it pinned on the door of the shop. It read: " _ **Hello, Shino. Meet me tomorrow morning at 9 AM in front of the two-story house. See you there. Maho**_ " with that, my thoughts were running as I puzzled the pieces together. Maho was the hooded person that ran in front of us all along!

While I was following that train of thought, though, Shino decided to pull me out of it. "Well, I'm tired and we need to meet Maho tomorrow morning. So we should get some sleep."

I quickly agreed, saying that I had a quest to accept before turning in and that she should go get a shower before sleeping. Shino complied, walking to the inn as I traded her a copy of my key. (I asked the innkeeper to give me two keys as we were two people.)

After doing so, I decided to get the quest for the **Anneal Blade** , the first real One-Handed Longsword, which was called 'secret medicine of the forest'. It tells me to get an ovule from a **Little Nepent** and bring it to the quest master, who was a mother in worry. Said mother's child was sick and the normal medicine doesn't help, so she needed to make the antidote with the ovule. Accepting the quest, I went back to the inn, hitting the bunks for the day.

The next day, Maho's PoV (3rd person)

Maho woke up with the sun shining in her eyes. She hadn't slept well, which made her forget for a moment that she had a meeting with Shino. Remembering this, she quickly got up and got ready for the day. After getting a shower, she made her way to the two-story house in Horunka, as she still wanted to take a nap for waking so early.

~Shino's and Kazuto's PoV (3rd person)

The two beta-testers were walking to the two-story house when they saw Maho already there, waiting for them whilst taking a nap. "Neh, Kazuto-kun. You've still got the quest to do haven't you?" Shino asked. "Well… yeah, I do indeed. This was the quest for the **Anneal Blade**. Let's get going, though. Maho is waiting… asleep."

~General PoV (3rd person)

Maho was not nearly as surprised as she should have been as Kazuto woke her up by poking her in the face. Instead, she chose to just move her head so Kazuto would miss. "Well who do we have here… if it isn't Shino… and Kazuto?! Now I am surprised." She stated. "Well, I was also surprised that our friend here has been playing SAO. Even more so as I was also her partner. Unknowingly so but still."

Kazuto's reply visibly surprised Maho, as she also didn't know about Kazuto playing SAO's beta test until then. Finally snapping out of it, she decided to take the quest for the **Anneal Blade**. "I'm gonna head into the house and get the quest. For a blade to sell and show while I am in the public." With that, she excused herself, leaving Shino and Kazuto to their thoughts.

After a while, Kazuto spoke up.: "So, Shino, how long did you know about Maho playing SAO?" Shino, deciding to not hide anything, came out with the truth. "Since the alpha stage started." Was her reply.

This visibly shocked Kazuto as he didn't know that somebody had even more experience than him in the game. Deciding just to let it pass, he told her his assumptions. "Do you think that she could be that **Unique Skill** user?"

"Who are you talking about?" Came a voice that disturbed their trains of thought. Kazuto turned around in surprise as he didn't notice Maho approaching, and the same goes for Shino.

Kazuto, deciding to be honest, answered. "Neh, Maho. Could you be that player that beat fifty or so of the other alpha testers?" This shocked Maho to the very core. But being the person that she was, and knowing Kazuto, she had nothing to fear from this. "Yes I am, indeed. But I think I should hide my skills for now. How did you figure it out?"

This question caught Kazuto off guard, as he didn't expect such an obvious question coming from Maho's mouth. Just shrugging over that, he decided to break it to her. "Well, it's pretty obvious, isn't it? You sprinted past us, meaning that you have invested something in the **Sprinting** skill. Also, you got here unscathed, as far as I can see. Another indicator that you're strong. And thirdly, you've slaughtered everything in your path to get here. It doesn't need much of a detective to figure it out then."

After that, Maho understood. Deciding to stop the chat, she brought up the quest she has just taken. "We ARE here to grind, aren't we?" she asked. This caught the two others off guard as they did intend to get the quest done and move ASAP.

"Yeah, we are." Came Shino's reply, as she motioned Kazuto to say something, which he did. "As you already know, I want the **Anneal Blade** , and as we kill more Nepents, the drop rate is going to get higher and higher. So I'd like you, Shino, to take the quest as well, as we can sell the blade later."

Hearing that, Shino went and took the quest before taking off into the jungle.

~Time skip: 6 hours.

It was now 4PM in the afternoon and the three friends were still grinding, Maho having shown the two others her **Unique Skill** and the **Mimung** beforehand.

Eventually, somebody also came into the forest and, due to sheer coincidence, they met up. "Hey there! I didn't expect anybody to appear here before me. You guys are from the beta as well, huh?" Irelia ( **Insert A/N: I will mention their in-game names if there are any other persons apart from the 3 around** ) was the first to respond. "I'm not. Those two are." After that, the man introduced himself as Coper and told them that he was also farming **Little Nepents**.

' _Great,'_ he thought. _'That green-eyed girl seems like a newb to me. She hasn't even got a new rapier at this stage. Also, I bet that she's probably saved up a lot of col for me to get, along with the_ _ **Anneal Blade**_ _. I'll just MPK them should the other two get in the way._ ' With that, he decided to lure them into a trap. "How about us hunting the **Little Nepents** together? The drop rate is always higher this way. And don't worry, you don't have to invite me into a party."

Hearing this, Kirito and Sinon decided that it is fine to let Coper tag along. Irelia didn't have anything against it either, so he did tag along.

After 45 minutes of grinding, three **Little Nepents** with flowers popped up already and the three friends got their ovules. Coper bade his time with slashing **Little Nepents** , waiting for his trap to appear. Five minutes later, it did indeed happen.

As a **Little Nepent** With a fruit attached onto its head appeared, Kirito didn't give it a second thought as he thought Coper knew how to deal with it; Killing it and not touching the fruit. But as he stole a glance to the man, he noticed Coper's apologetic look in his eyes.

With that, he knew what was going to happen. Coper slashed the **Little Nepent** right through the fruit, which was going to attract other plants to this location, and went into hiding, as he had chosen the **Hiding** skill. Kirito, having put one skill slot into the **Searching** skill, found Coper hiding in a bush, which encouraged him to run past Coper's hiding spot, with the two girls following him.

Coper, not knowing if Kirito running past him was actually planned or not, decided to not run and stay in the spot. Little did he know that hiding doesn't work against monsters that aren't relying on sight, as the **Little Nepents** did.

This proved to be fatal for him, as he became one of the many casualties in the first month after the official release of SAO.

Irelia, seeing that Coper was dead, pulled out her **Mimung** and her **Chronokeeper** and decided to turn on the plant monsters. Activating the **Twisting Clouds** skill, basically a skill that made the blades rotate for 3 seconds around a spot with increasing radius every second, on her **Chronokeeper** , she noticed that there was, unlike with normal **Sword Skills** , no system assist in placing these unique **Sword Skills**.

But having the experience of using the weapon, she placed the blades between her and the **Little Nepents** , just close enough that the DEF reduction didn't apply. The blades started to glow and the gears on the fuller started turning as the combo started to slash apart the plants with relative ease, killing half of them in the three seconds it was active.

Meanwhile, Kirito and Sinon were also busy, as they both also turned around. Sinon activated **Shadow Strike** , a fast one-hit, high damage dagger skill with a possibility of a 1-sec stun, whilst Kirito activated his **Horizontal** , hitting multiple monsters at once, finishing what the two others started already.

After a few moments of respite, Kirito went off to the spot where he assumed Coper died. His assumption was correct as he found Coper's **Small Sword** at the spot he died. Stabbing the battered blade into the ground, he put a fourth ovule that he acquired whilst fighting the last few plants in front of the grave marker.

' _You could've been a friend, Coper, if you hadn't been so greedy._ ' These were his last parting thoughts as he slowly moved back to the waiting friends.

~Time Skip: 45 minutes

The three friends arrived in the village of **Horunka** with the classical playful banter they were all used to from their real-life meetings, not a trace of sadness present that reigned over them 45 minutes ago.

When they arrived, they parted ways with the intention of rotating around town; Kazuto went to complete the quest first, Shino went shopping and Maho visited the Blacksmith of the village. Then they would change tasks, Shino visiting the smithy, Maho completing the quest, and so on.

30 minutes later, they were all done with what they had to do and were absolutely exhausted. Deciding to grab a dinner and turn in for the rest of the day, the party searched for the little restaurant they knew was in this town.

Whilst they were eating, they noticed how many levels they acquired. Maho was now level 9, halfway to 10, Kazuto and Shino were both 7, three quarters to 8. Kazuto invested 11 stat points into STR and 7 into AGI, whilst Shino did the opposite (Kazuto: 13 STR, 8 AGI; Shino: 8 STR, 13 AGI). Both also got a skill slot. Kazuto then chose **Parry** , whilst Shino chose **Hiding**.

Maho already had 10 STR and 8 AGI points distributed in the beginning of the game and ended up getting 4 extra STR and 5 extra AGI points, meaning that her stats were at 14 and 13. She hasn't acquired any new skills as of yet, but that would soon change.

~Time Skip: 1 Month. (December 3rd, 2022)

The next month of SAO would probably go into the history as the bloodiest time of the whole game to come. More than 2000 people died so far and people are starting to lose hope as even the 1st floor remained un-cleared. This didn't apply for three certain players, though, who never stopped power-grinding up until now.

Kirito was now level 12, having used his XP-boost very well. He got his 5th skill slot, which he invested into **First** **Aid**. He also gained 7 STR and 8 AGI points, which totals him to 20 STR and 16 AGI points total.

Sinon was also level 12 now, having equally effectively utilized her XP boost. She also got her 5th skill, **Acrobatics** , whilst investing 8 STR and 7 AGI points into the traits, bringing her to 16 STR and 20 AGI.

Maho's development was probably the most impressive as she was now level 16, but taking her extended XP-boost into account, it was clear that she had out-scaled the two others because of that. She also gained a 5th skill; Battle Healing. Her stat points were distributed rather to the AGI-heavy side, investing 14 points into AGI and the half into STR, meaning that she had 21 STR but 27 AGI.

These three now also had contact with Argo, **The Rat** ; an info-broker from the closed beta who was friends with Kirito and Sinon. The three contributed the most to the **Beginner's Guide** which was distributed in the stores for free, getting a permanent 33% off on Argo's intel. Sinon was the first to use this connection as she sold her **Anneal Blade** +2 for 30000 col to some player named Kibaou. Also, Argo told them that there was a boss-raid meeting in **Tolbana** that day at 10AM. (Which was for free, mind you.)

~At the raid meeting, **Tolbana**

"Hello everybody and welcome to our boss-raid meeting. My name is Diavel, and I consider myself as a knight." Sounded the cheery voice of a blue-haired man standing in the middle of a Romanic stage. This caused the most people to erupt in laughter and some to say that there was no job system in SAO. Obviously, the knight joke was only to lighten the mood, but that simply went by four certain people, three sitting together and the fourth one a bit away, that were sitting there, with two of them having a hood on.

"Today, my party found the door to the first floor boss. This meeting is there for everybody that wishes to fight alongside us and beat the floor. Today, we are going to beat the boss, and show everybody on this floor that the death game can be beaten. Everybody here shares this duty! Isn't this so?" Diavel continued, this time around no trace of happiness present in his voice.

With that, the crowd was stunned, processing what the 'knight' had just said. After thinking it through, some people started clapping, erupting in cheers even, which was the desired effect of Diavel's speech.

"OK. With this said, let's start planning. First, get into groups of six people, as solo players will only get themselves killed in the dungeon." With that, the people quickly formed groups of six, leaving the aforementioned four players out of it. The 46 people present formed 7 parties of six and a party of 3, leaving one hooded person alone, which didn't go unnoticed by Kirito.

' _I better invite her into the party. Nobody should be left alone, not even on the first floor._ ' With that in mind, he made her way to that person, who, apart from her auburn hood, wore white stockings and boots matching with her hood. She had a **Wind Fleuret** , a rare monster drop rapier, equipped to her and some strands of chestnut hair exposed from under her hood, which were the only recognizable details apart from the pale skin she had.

"Hey, you there." Kirito spoke up, "Want to join us? It's not like you are allowed to fight alone, you know." The person simply nodded and Kirito invited her into the party, which she accepted after a short moment of hesitation. With that, the two returned to the Irelia and Sinon, both stunned by the name of the player who had joined their party; **Asuna**.

' _Asuna, is that you?_ ' Maho asked herself, but was ripped out of her thoughts by Sinon, just in time for Diavel to speak up again.

"Well, have you all partied up? Then-" "WAIT!" He was interrupted by a man with orange, spiky hair who was wearing a chainmail vest and had a **Anneal Blade** equipped. Said man stood atop the top row of the tribune and started jumping down, reaching ground level in a few jumps, sliding to a hold.

After that, he pointed his index finger into the crowd and screamed: "Before anything, my name is Kibaou. And some of you need to apologize right now to the two thousand people who have died so far."

Noticing Sinon sitting in the crowd, he shouted: "Especially you, missy," whilst pointing his finger in Sinon's direction, getting a frown on the three faces, one obstructed by a hood.

Diavel, who decided that he heard enough, spoke up: "Kibaou-san, are you currently speaking of the beta-testers?" Kibaou, outraged by such an obvious question shouted: "Of course I am! Who else could I be referring to? On the day this god-damned game started, the beta-testers just left us beginners here to rot, stealing the best XP and col locations with the easiest quests, and got off the radar. Thus getting stronger than all of us! This lowly scum should come down here and apologize, giving us all the items and col they have. Otherwise, they shall not participate in this raid!"

Sinon, having had enough of Kibaou's rant, decided to stand up and face that bastard. "May I speak up?" she rhetorically asked as she walked onto the stage, getting out a **Beginner's Guide** in the process. "So, Kibaou-san, you are saying that all the beta-testers have left the beginners alone to die, thus having to compensate and take responsibility. Am I right?"

Not waiting for his response, she continued, relentlessly assaulting and picking apart Kibaou's arguments. "Does everybody have one of these?" She asked, as she got a nod of confirmation from all the people present, encouraging her to continue.

"All this information was acquired by the beta-testers working together. Can somebody read the creators of the section **Sword Skills** , **Basic Survival** and **Stats and Skills: a simple How to**?" With that, a tall black man spoke up: "They are **Kirito** , **Sinon** , and **Irelia** , respectively," Making Sinon grin.

"But Still! How the heck are we supposed to know where they are now" Kibaou shouted angrily at Sinon, not knowing her identity. The girl simply curtsied, speaking up: "Kirito, Irelia and Sinon. At your service." She said, motioning to her friends, who both gave the crowd small bows.

This silenced the orange-haired man for good, whilst little murmurs in the crowd broke out. "Whoa, these are the major contributors to this guide! They must be strong!" Were some of them.

"I hope that you now understand what we did to help the beginners, who, despite proper instructions, still died." Came her final statement as she moved back to her seat.

After this little intermission by Kibaou and Sinon, Diavel finally could continue. "As Sinon already stated, there is the Beginner's Guide, which has been updated today."

This made the crowd go up in ooohs while Diavel continued. "The guide now contains information about the first floor boss, **Illfang the Kobold Lord**. It has four health bars and wields a bone axe with a shield. It is also said, that he will drop said weapons in favor of a Talwar if his last HP-bar is in the red zone. Also, it is guarded by monsters called **Ruin Kobold Sentinels** that spawn after entering the boss room and after depleting each of the HP-bars."

After that statement on the boss, he paused a little to let the information soak in. a few seconds passed as he decided to continue. "Our main strategy will be using two tank parties to hold the boss' agro, switching out when one gets low, whilst striking with two DpS parties. The remaining groups hold the minions off from the fighting parties. This concludes the briefing. I expect you all tomorrow at 10AM. Sharp."

With this in mind, the group disbanded, biding their time for the day. Sinon decided to get lunch for the group whilst Kirito was hanging around Irelia and Asuna, who still hadn't taken her hood off.

Eventually, Asuna spoke up, not knowing what to do. "I'll go and use the rest of the day grinding," she said in an emotionless voice, whilst she started walking. "Well, I am certainly powered out… might as well take a shower till Sinon returns." Irelia stated.

This statement caused Asuna to freeze in her path, thoughts swirling in her head. "You can shower in the game? I haven't showered in a month…" She realized too late that she spoke this out loud, much to Kirito's and Irelia's surprise.

"Well, you can always use the shower in Kirito's room, as he is heading to the shops right now. Shouldn't be a problem, should it?" Irelia spoke, clearly wanting to have some alone-time to sort out her thoughts. Kirito saw that and agreed, as he also had a few issues he wanted to sort out.

"This is Sinon's Key to our room. Just don't loose it." He says. Giving her a Key to the inn, which she accepted. "Irelia will show you to the room. I have to get going now, see you soon at the inn." He concluded, leaving the two girls to their things, who both eventually went showering.

~Maho's PoV (1st person)

After showing Asuna to Kirito's room, I went into my own bathroom, thoughts about my little sister still whirling in my head whilst I started un-equipping all my things (including underwear, of course) to get into the shower. In the shower, my thoughts really started running as I thought about everything whilst the warm water was running along my bare form.

' _Can this even be Asuna? I don't know whether she could've even joined this game… but if it is, I mustn't associate myself with her. Having a **Unique Skill** , I must hide it as I could get hunted down for it… Also, I have to make sure that she survives, even at the cost of my life._'

' _… also, I can't afford to get myself in a dire situation anymore. One mistake, and my life could be gone, and Asuna's life probably would be gone with it, if it is Asuna…_ '

' _Although I don't know what is going to happen after the boss fight, but I have a feeling that Kazuto and Shino will split up from me and Asuna… I've got to keep her safe, even if she isn't my sister._ '

~general PoV, time skip: 30 mins

The party was eating the take-away food Shino brought in hers and Kazuto's room. Asuna had decided to go grinding and took the restaurant-made sandwich with her into the dungeon.

Sinon and Maho were talking about the real-life and how it used to be, discussing family when Maho brought up a rather sensitive subject to her; her sister Asuna. "Do you think that it could be her?" She asked, which caught her companion off-guard.

"Well, her name is the same, and judging by the hair-color, it could pretty well be…" came her rationalized reply. "At least Kazuto doesn't know my sister personally… but still… this could be bad."

Sinon just chuckled. "Well, if we're going to get separated, I want you to keep her safe, even if you're not related and such." "Of course, it'd be against me to leave somebody behind and rot…" came Maho's reply. "Let's go grinding. I need something to get my head clear." With that, Shino's neutral expression soon changed into a grinning one as they went grinding.

~Kazuto's and Asuna's PoV (3rd person), time skip: 5 hours

It was 7PM in the evening as Kazuto found Asuna sitting on a bench, eating a bread with a semi-disgusted expression.

Deciding to walk up to her, he thought about how to approach her. In the end, he just asked for a seat, to which she didn't reply, so he simply sat down with her. "It's tasty, isn't it?" He asked, trying to start a conversation. To his amazement, she even replied. "Is that so? I can't believe so."

"I eat one every day, since I got here… but I like to mix things up once in a while." He stated, whilst pulling out a little jar and a bread of his own. "Try using this on her bread." He told her, which she did after a few seconds. ' _Cream?_ ' She thought, as Kirito applied a bit of cream on his own bread.

Once Kirito started to chew on his own bread, Asuna was dwelling in her own thoughts. Pushing those aside, she decided to start eating her bread, although what hit her was very different than she expected. Instead of the standard, dull taste of the bread, the taste reproduction engine made it taste like a cheesecake. Noticing that, she devoured the bread of hers while Kirito was still chewing on his first piece.

Deciding to trust him a bit more, she spoke up this time. "I'm not here to eat good food, though. I am here so that I can stay myself. I'd rather stay myself than rot away in a inn somewhere in the **Starting City**. So even if I get killed, I'll die as myself, not losing to this game, this world even. I wouldn't be able to see my onee-chan otherwise. She gave up basically everything so that I could be myself, and I am not about to let that go to waste."

Kirito, noticing the resolve in her voice when she talked about her big sister, decided to give her advice. "Well, as of now, I am respecting your nee-san, although I do not know her. She has given her all for you and you better not let that go to waste dying. Also, we don't want a party member dying on us. So please, don't die. You'd be wasting so much effort put into you. Both by us and by your nee-san."

After these words were spoken, the conversation died down. Eventually, they both went back indoors to get some sleep, Asuna getting a room for herself, not knowing that her sibling was right there next to her room, thrashing about in her bed because of said chestnut-haired girl.

**To be continued.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. The next one will be released next Monday, too. Thanks for reading!
> 
> Ja ne! See you next week!
> 
> ~Irelia Yuuki


	3. Aria of a starless Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey and welcome back. I am thankful for all the support this story is getting and am happy to post this 3rd chapter. As always, feel free to PM me if you have any questions and leave a review if you found any typing/grammar/plot errors.
> 
> Enough of that, though. Now enjoy the friends beating up Illfang.
> 
> ~Irelia Yuuki.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: see chp.1

~Maho's PoV (1st person) (December 4th, 2022)

I woke up after a rough dream, leaving my virtual character sweat-drenched and me deprived of sleep. ' _Wow, what a dream_ ' I thought, whilst looking at the clock. It was 9AM and I should get moving. Moving to the bathroom, I decided to take a shower before heading out.

~Kazuto's and Shino's PoV (3rd person)

Kazuto experienced a rather rough awakening call in form of a pillow to the face, thrown by yours truly, Shino. "Wake up! Sleepyhead!" Grumbling something about nothing being wrong with sleeping longer, Kazuto stood up.

"Go and take a shower." With that statement, Shino practically shoved Kazuto into the bathroom and waited, because she took one before waking Kazuto up.

After he came out of the shower, the two went over their equipment before heading out to get breakfast with the others.

~Asuna's PoV (1st person)

I woke up from a nightmare about my sister, of whom I know is trapped in SAO. ' _My god, I can't afford letting her die!_ ' I thought, whilst trying to keep calm and head to the bathroom, using the shower function I learned about yesterday. ' _I'll grow stronger. For her. I'll protect her and clear the game, for she gave up her freedom to grant it to me, I shall give mine to grant it to her._ '

With that resolve made while showering, I went to search Kirito and Shino, thoughts about that 'Irelia' girl swirling in my mind, her having a familiar aura and all that.

~General PoV:

Kirito, Sinon and Asuna all met up at the restaurant near the inn they were staying in and were enjoying breakfast. Irelia was absent because she had sent Kirito an message that she still had some things to do, trying to mask her true motives, which lied in sorting out her thoughts.

Kirito, bothered a bit by the silence during the meal, decided to make some conversation to break it. "So, you need anything for the boss fight?" He asked, just to receive a "Nope! Got everything" as reply from the two girls at the same time, causing both to blush.

Luckily for Asuna, though, is that her face was hidden beneath her hood, meaning that her blush wouldn't show.

Kirito, not bothering about the girls' blushes just continued, not seeing a reason to tease them. (Not yet, mind you.) "Good, because if you did have something to get, we'd have to leave now. It's like half past nine already."

"Well, even if you did need anything, I would've gotten it by now as I went to the stores and got all the things I needed just now." Irelia interjected, causing the three to look at her hooded figure. Kirito was the first one who noticed a trade menu popping up in front of him, containing a healing crystal and a few health pots. The others soon noticed trade windows of their own as Irelia continued to talk.

"So, we should get going now, I personally want to arrive a bit earlier than the rest, so that we're not the last ones there." She reasoned, as being timely was also a trait of her personality. The group agreed and they made their way to the theatre, which took roughly 15 minutes.

Another 15 minutes later, 45 out of the 46 players present at the meeting were there, Kibaou being the missing one. "Where is that guy?" Sinon asked, annoyance clear in her voice. "First he flames the beta-testers for no reason at all then he doesn't show up! What the fuck is wrong with him?" she continued on, her usually calm and collected personality quickly changing into the hot-headed nature of hers.

Five minutes passed and the bad mood had spread across the whole party, although they're simply mad about Kibaou's latency. Diavel had finally had enough of this and decided to move on, resulting in sighs of relief from most of the people who didn't want to wait any longer.

~time skip: 1hr

The players of the clearing group was walking in direction of the dungeon when they heard a loud voice, causing them to look back. "WAAAAIIIT!" Shouted none other than our favorite cactus-head Kibaou, who was currently running down the road towards the raid party.

"I'm sorry that I am late! I had some stuff to resupply, and then missed the departure and then I got lost and-" "Never mind that now, Kibaou, you're here now and that's all that matters." Diavel interrupted his series of apologies. "Let's continue on, guys. The boss isn't gonna commit suicide anytime soon." He said, leaving Kibaou astonished.

Not only had Diavel forgiven him for his latency, but he also didn't show any interest in Kibaou's excuses, which made Kibaou extremely thankful for having such a leader in command.

After that intermission from Kibaou, the group continued on in silence, making Kirito and Sinon extremely uncomfortable. Deciding to just break this silence, Sinon brought up some… rather embarrassing scenes from the beta.

"Kirito-kun, I hope that you now know better than to run into my picks and knives again, don't you? We ARE in a death game after all…" She said, causing an instantaneous blush to appear on Kirito's avatar, and a laugh to spread in the raid party. Being the type of boy that didn't let such a comment sit on himself, he decided to retort.

"Sinon, I do need to remind you that the times I actually got hurt by you were the times you actually aimed at the back of my head. You're called the 'Sniper of ice' but you don't seem to be accurate enough to live up to the name of a sniper." He said, getting even more laughs from the group, Sinon included.

Eventually, the playful banter from the group died down and the mood went back to a rather nervous and anxious one. Eventually, Kirito had enough of the silence and decided to go over their strategy once more.

"… and when both Irelia and I are on cooldown, you switch in and hopefully deal extra damage to the target." He explained, making Asuna stop in her tracks.

"…What's a switch?" She asked, causing Kazuto to facepalm, forgetting that she had probably never been in a party before.

"When another party member is frozen from the sword skills they used, another player, the player they switch with, takes their position and follows up on their damage, sometimes also delaying their assault. This is simply called the 'switch'." Irelia quickly interjected, not wanting to embarrass Asuna even more.

Asuna, now understanding the switch mechanic, nodded in confirmation as the group continued on with their journey to the boss room of the first floor dungeon.

70 minutes have passed and the clearing group reached the place in front of the boss room with everybody a bit exhausted. Thus, they decided to take a little break of 5 minutes to eat and drink something.

After the break, Diavel slammed his sword into the ground, gaining everybody's attention. "So, before we start the boss fight, I want to clarify some things. The **Last-Attack Bonus** goes to the person that gets it, the XP will be distributed equally throughout the group and the gold will go to the party that gets the kill. They will distribute it among themselves. Any objections?"

As everybody kept still, he continued. "Good. Now let's show this boss who is boss." With that, the players opened the door, revealing a room that is roughly 20m x 100m large, containing Illfang.

Illfang let out a ferocious battle cry and the boss battle began with the boss spawning his **Ruin Kobold Sentinels**.

Eventually, Asuna unleashed a **Quadruple pain** , finishing off one of the boss' last minions. She was watched by Kirito, whom she switched with, who was gawking then. ' _Wow, her sword is so fast, I can't see its tip._ ' He thought.

Soon after, the boss dropped to its last HP bar and there were still no casualties. His minions were disposed of quickly and its HP were dropping as fast as a slime from the 1st floor. Eventually, the HP reached the red zone of said bar, meaning that the boss would change weapons and enter rage mode.

This was when Diavel changed the originally intended plan. "Back off, everybody, I've got this!" He shouted, making everybody back off the boss. Kirito, seeing that the boss actually drew an nōdachi instead of a talwar, watched in horror as the modification couldn't mean any good to the party.

"Diavel! Be careful! It's an nōdachi, not a talwar!" He shouted as a desperate attempt to warn the blue-haired raid-party leader, who was currently charging up a mid-level sword skill.

He however, didn't pay Kirito's words any attention as he continued to charge the boss, victory certain in his mind.

This thought was quickly dispelled as Illfang started jumping around the boss lair, its AI deducting the biggest threat to him. Sadly though, Diavel was (wrongly) recognized as such and Illfang charged up a sword skill whilst jumping towards Diavel.

The blue-haired man was knocked to the ground, his chest area bearing a huge wound. Kirito, being the first one who noticed that, rushed to his side only to see his HP quickly fading.

Irelia wouldn't have any of that though, as she pulled out a **Healing Crystal** from her pouch and used it whilst sprinting to Kirito's side, healing his HP to 50%.

"Why?" he asked as she ignored his question and shoved an incredulously expensive **Teleport Crystal** into his hand and muttered: "Teleport; **Tolbana**." Not intending to disappear with him, she decided to simply stand up and draw her blade.

Diavel's forced teleport from Irelia was taken wrongly as nobody actually saw the teleport crystal being used, thus everybody thought that their leader was dead, losing the will to fight as result. Also, the boss started tearing up the parties, trying to take as many out as he could. Agil, noticing that Asuna and Kirito were just standing there, decided to just shout at them.

"JUST WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WE'RE FIGHTING A BOSS HERE SO STOP STANDING AROUND AND START FIGHTING."

This finally got Kirito and Asuna out of the trance like state they were in from Irelia's actions and they resumed thinking, and thus also resumed acting. "I'll strike the boss' sword aside and you three do damage to him!" Asuna shouted, getting a confirmation from Sinon, Irelia and Kirito.

Asuna saw the boss charge up a sword skill and went for it. Starting a **Linear** , she tried to parry the skill of Illfang by meeting his nōdachi with her rapier. Her **Wind Fleuret** met Illfang's weapon slightly off center to the left, causing his blade to steer in another direction, cancelling the sword skill.

Although his sword skill was cancelled, his sword was still traveling, hitting Asuna's cloak and ripping it apart, revealing the beautiful face beneath it.

~Irelia's PoV (1st person)

I watched in astonishment as Asuna landed that perfect **Linear** on the boss, throwing it off balance and ready for me to follow up. As I unleashed a **Shooting Star** on my **rapière rose** , a rapier made of rose-red steel and a guard shaped like the bloom a rose, I noticed that Asuna's cloak was ripped off by the boss, revealing the face of none other than my sister's.

' _So she really is my sister, isn't she? Man, Asuna, if we ever get out of this alive, you're going to be in soooo much trouble._ ' Was the only thing I thought as I continued to slash the boss with my sword, and eventually switching out to Kirito.

~General PoV

After Irelia was finished, Kirito unleashed a **Slant** , trying to abort the boss' sword skill yet again, only to meet open air instead of the blade he was expecting his **Anneal Blade** to hit. Illfang then replied by using a **Ukifune** on Kirito, knocking him into Asuna and Irelia, effectively stunning the latter.

Kirito's HP were around half, same with Asuna's, and the boss stood towering in front of them. Even a moron could see that this situation was a fatal one as Illfang lifted his blade to deliver the final blow.

As Illfang brought the weapon down to kill the three, two throwing picks flew towards him and one of them embedded itself into an eye, partially blinding the beast. The nōdachi itself was interrupted by a **Whirlwind** from Agil, blocking the blade.

"Go back and heal, we got this situation covered." He said, earning him a grateful nod from all of them. And as luck would have it, just after they've healed up, Illfang slashed around him to rid himself of the players surrounding him, knocking them back a fair distance. After that, he leaped in the air to activate **Tsumujiguruma** , intent on killing them all with one blow.

Kirito noticed this and activated a **Rage Spike** , trying to hit the boss whilst still channeling. This succeeded and Kirito landed with a roll, which he followed into a sprint towards the boss. "Asuna! Irelia! To me! Sinon! Hit its eyes!" The three girls gave affirmative and the last assault began.

Kirito, Asuna and Irelia ran towards the boss, all three of them drawing their blades and starting sword skills. As Kirito's **Vertical** was about to land, Sinon hit Illfang with one of her throwing knives, her aim not letting her down in this moment of importance. The melee fighters used this opening as they all charged in at the temporarily flinching boss and attacked.

As Kirito was on cooldown from his **Vertical** , it was Irelia's turn. Having recently unlocked the **Diagonal Hexagon** , (a mid-level rapier sword skill consisting of three diagonal crossing slashes, forming a hexagon, and a stab at the crossing point of the slashes, stunning the enemy) she activated just that, effectively continuing to hold the boss in check.

Then, Asuna came in and activated **Quadruple Pain** , extending the stun duration on the boss and damaging him enough so that the next hit would kill him.

Kirito, having just passed his freeze period, activated a **Vertical Arc** whilst sprinting towards the boss, intent on getting the killing blow as both girls were on cooldown from their sword skills.

The sword skill hit home and Kirito cut him diagonally from the upper-right to the lower-left side. Continuing the 2-hit combo, he came in from below and started splitting the boss in half, resulting in his blade having gone through the now dead boss's entire body and then some.

As the boss exploded, everybody went silent at the display of prowess by the four players, comboing 25% of the enraged boss's HP bar in merely a few seconds. Then, everybody cheered as the CONGRATULATION notice popped up and almost everybody got a level-up.

But one could almost say that the happy mood didn't last long at all as Kibaou decided to ruin it. "Why?" He asked, silencing everyone.

"Why did you let him die?" he continued, this time having an accusing tone of voice. Suddenly, the people were angry at the players who they just celebrated a few moments ago.

~Kazuto's PoV (1st person)

' _This is bad, if it goes on like this, everybody will hate the beta-testers._ ' I thought as I went through the options I had. Deciding to take the anger and hate on me, I wanted to speak up.

Getting nudged in the ribs by Sinon's elbow wasn't in my expectations though.

"Whatever you plan on doing, I am helping." She said. Gods she knew me way too well as I was indeed planning on doing something rather ridiculous. With that in mind, I nodded, hoping that she wouldn't try and kill me after I was done.

Just as I decided to speak up, Irelia beat me to it. "So. Diavel didn't actually die, Kibaou. I Teleported him to **Tolbana** , not wanting him to disrupt the raid even more than he already had done after I saved his life. Greed is something we don't need in these life and death situations." This statement silenced some of the murmurs, but not all.

This astounded Kibaou but he didn't falter. "But still. Why didn't you share what you knew with us then? This simply shows us that the beta-testers are actually a bunch of selfish bastards!" He said, trying to ignite the burning hatred for the beta-testers once again. This was the time when we (me and Sinon) both received a message from Irelia.

" **I have the feeling that you're going to do something. Do it if you want to, but know that our ways will part for a while if you do so. I have a sister to take care of. I'll keep in touch, though.** "

Knowing this, I started to laugh. Maniacally. "A beta-tester? Don't even dare to compare me to these noobs." I said after I was done laughing. Then, to my surprise, Sinon joined in with an exceptionally cold laugh, the laugh that added the 'Ice' part in her nickname.

"90% of the 1000 beta-testers were just amateurs who don't even know how to level. Even you are above them." She said, surprising everyone.

"But we are different. In the beta, we reached floors higher than anyone else in the game, fighting monsters with more advanced attack patterns in the process. This is the reason that I knew the boss' attack pattern. But wait, there's more. During my days in the beta, I gathered a lot of information on the game. Probably more than any info-broker." I continued, astonishing them even more.

It seems like Kibaou has caught up to my words, and he started to speak. "But that makes you a cheater! A fucking filthy cheater!" He shouted whilst everybody joined in, not knowing that I didn't give a shit about what people thought of me online.

"You're a beta-tester and a cheater! So you're a Beater!" Somebody in the crowd shouted, to which I simply grinned.

"Beater… That's a good name. That's right. I am a Beater. So from now on, don't compare me with those beta-testers." I said, whilst opening my menu and searching for a certain item. After I found said item, I equipped it. It was the **Coat of Midnight** , the **Last-Attack Bonus** from this boss.

That being said and done, I turned and walked to the second floor entrance, Sinon already waiting for me at the stairs.

~General PoV

Whilst Kirito and Sinon took on the Beater status, Irelia pulled her sister aside, not wanting her to follow up. "Whatever you do, don't follow them." She said, which got Asuna angry. "And who exactly are you to talk to me like that?" came her reply, which made Irelia remember that Asuna still didn't know her identity.

"Somebody who has the right to talk to you like that." Irelia said, not fazed at all about her sister's unknowing disrespect for somebody she held in such high regards.

This response silenced Asuna, who was unusually loud lately, her respectful and calm side fading into her hot-headed and stubborn side. "Okay." Was the only thing she said, after which she ran after Kirito.

"Kirito-kun! Wait!" Kirito stopped climbing the stairs and turned around, waiting for her to continue. "You said my name in the boss fight, right?"

"Sorry that I addressed you informally. Or did I pronounce it wrong?" came his reply, his tone still holding its slightly cold edge. Asuna, completely unfazed by the answer, just asked one question. "How did you know it?" She spoke, enticing a chuckle from Sinon.

"You can see a few HP bars around here that isn't your own. The person's name is always written next to it." He said, mentioning to where he assumed was the upper left corner of her field of view.

Asuna, now noticing the HP-bars, laughed. "So that's where they were all the time!"

Just shrugging over the unexpected reaction, Sinon spoke up. "You're strong. If somebody you trust invites you into a guild, join it. There are limits to what us solo players can do in this game." This made Asuna frown, though. "But what about you?" She asked, being seriously concerned for the two people in front of her."

"We'll hold up." Was everything Kirito said before disbanding the party and inviting Sinon into a new one, who accepted without hesitation. In the end, they both simply left for the 2nd floor of Aincrad. Irelia, having just caught up to Asuna, did the same.

~Asuna's and Maho's PoV

"So. Do you mind telling me why you didn't let me go after them?" Asuna asked, accusation in her voice, seriously asking herself why she abided by Irelia's words.

The hooded girl simply told her that she would tell her when they got to an inn, silencing Asuna once more. (Even though this time, it was out of curiosity.)

~Time skip: 3 hours

When they got to **Urbus** , they saw that Kirito and Sinon already opened the Teleport gate, which was the reason why the city was bustling with players.

Irelia was hungry, not having had lunch the way over here, so she asked Asuna if they wanted to go eat lunch as she knew of a nice restaurant near where they were. Asuna, still dwelling in her thoughts, simply nodded.

~In the restaurant

Irelia was just ordering some random dish from the waitress as Asuna brought up the questions she was bothered with. "Just who are you? You seem familiar to me…" she asked, earning her a friendly smile from Irelia.

"I am seriously still wondering why you haven't figured it out yet... whatever. I hope this answers your questions." She said, un-equipping her hood and, to be honest, shocking her sister by doing so.

"Onee-chan?!" She asked, being completely shocked about the identity of the previously mysterious (to her, at least) player.

"Yes, Asuna, indeed. And as we both know, you're in for a big scolding when we get to the inn." She said, making Asuna gulp in fear. If her sister was ever mad, she was really mad.

After they were done eating, Irelia rented them both a room for the night. Acting completely polite, one couldn't possibly know that she was incredibly mad unless one knew her well… very well.

After the girl closed the door, her demeanor changed completely. The usually smiling face was replaced by a frown and her usually friendly eyes were as cold as ice, if not, colder.

All this made Asuna seriously fear for what was to come, as she knew for a fact that her onee-chan wouldn't approve of her going off to fight a boss like that.

"So, Asuna. Care to explain why you joined the boss-raid, even though you knew that I was in the game and that I wouldn't approve you doing so?" Maho asked, sounding absolutely emotionless.

"I… dunno, honestly. I knew that you were in this game and that you'd probably try and help everyone, keeping me safe in the process. But I didn't want to rot in an Inn like you'd probably tell me to. I don't want to lose to Kayaba." She said, being honestly nothing but apologetic.

This earned her an exasperated sigh from Maho, who was in a serious dilemma right now. She could either keep Asuna with her, ensuring her safety and having a helping hand, or she could leave Asuna, trusting her that she'd stay alive, and join Kazuto and Shino. This option was also attractive because she then didn't need to deal with Asuna getting pegged as a Beater.

Deciding not to think more about it and asking her sister, she went ahead. "So, Asuna, I am not really mad about this anymore, as you've sufficiently explained your reasons. But don't get me wrong. Dying is not an option in this game. Now, we have two possible plans of action. The first one would be that I stick with you, keeping you safe and being a helping hand. The second option would be that I leave you to your devices, joining up with Kirito and Sinon. This is attractive for both of us because we don't need to worry about you being a Beater."

After she was done, Asuna was shocked. Her sister, who had tried to protect her, gave her the chance to act for herself. This alone was actually unexpected as Maho was overprotective in every aspect that regarded her little sister.

After a few minutes of silence, Asuna made her choice. "Onee-chan, I think I have made my decision. As much as I want to be with you right now, I can't. I have the feeling that I'd only hold you back. Also, even if we went separate ways, we'll still work together whilst fighting bosses. That's good enough for me. But I still have one question."

"Go ahead." was all Maho said, accompanied by an inquiring look in her eyes. "Why do you let me go alone?" she asked, taking the older girl by surprise as she hasn't expected such an naive question. Reminding herself that Asuna wasn't as mature as her (she was living alone in the US, after all), she answered in all honesty.

"During my time in the US, I learned a lot of things. Some of them not so good. but that aside, i really learned to trust other people of our age. Even though i didn't see a lot of other teenagers attending university, the few i saw, mostly 16-year-old sophomores, were actually a lot more mature than i thought they would be. I think that you're good enough to survive and win this game. Also, i'd like to finally put some faith into my sister, of whom i trust that she must have matured a lot over the years." Hearing this, Asuna nodded, only muttering a silent "Arigato."

After that was said, Maho sighed once more, before returning to her usual happy mood. "Nice. Now I think we have a lot of catching up to do. I haven't had a lot of time in the past few months and neither have you. So start talking. Do you like any boys? Or are you too scared that they will all be shooed away?" "Eeeeh?"

After Asuna caught herself from her third shock today, she started catching up with her sister, talking through most of the afternoon. They talked about anything and everything, apart from Maho's experiences in the US.

~Kazuto's and Shino's PoV, Time skip: -1 hour:

Shino was exhausted. Plain and simple. After 'outing' herself and Kazuto as Beaters, opening the gate to the 2nd floor and hiding from everybody, she now was sitting on the bed in the inn room she and Kazuto were sharing. "Damn. I didn't think you'd do something this ridiculous. You sure got me there, Kazuto-kun."

"Well, you didn't have to play along, you know?" Kazuto replied, not understanding the joke behind Shino's statement. "But I still wonder who Maho's sister is…"

Shino, forgetting for a moment that Kazuto had never met Asuna IRL before, started answering. "It's clear as day, isn't it? Oh, I forgot, you don't know her sister. It's Asuna."

"Sure haven't expected that." He said, a not-so shocked look on his face.

"Soooooooo. Wanna get something to eat?" Shino asked whilst her stomach was growling, only proving the fact that she was hungry.

"Sure."

~Time skip: 45mins

The two players were sitting in one of the many restaurants **Urbus** housed when Kirito received a message from Argo.

" **Ki-Bou and Sinonon, you've got somebody that wants to meet you. Also, some cactus-head is tailing you.** "

"Damn. Sinon, we got to go. Kibaou's tailing us right now, according to the rat." Kirito said, honestly surprised that Kibaou had caught up to them so quickly.

Sinon just shrugged, saying that she was done eating anyways, and that she was ready to go. After that, the two paid the bill and left, getting to the inn being top priority.

~general PoV:

The teleport gate on the 2nd floor showed that somebody was teleporting to this location. When the glow subsided, it revealed a familiar blue-haired man standing on the platform.

Diavel had an annoyed look in his eyes, as he was fairly mad about what Irelia did to him during the boss fight. Intending on ruining her day, he went to search for her.

(Little did he know that he would eventually fall head over heels in love with said girl's best friend.)

**To be continued.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey there!
> 
> No, this story won't ship Diavel and Shino. And please don't flame me because I let him live. I still have a very important role for him in this story and I hope that you can tolerate this abbreviation from canon. Anyways, if you have some questions that need answering, leave a review. If you found a typo/grammar/plot error, leave a PM. 
> 
> Constructive criticism is always appreciated as is any kind of feedback.  
> Thanks for reading.
> 
> Ja ne!
> 
> ~Irelia Yuuki


	4. Interim - Reason for the Whiskers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey there and welcome back! If you’re reading this it means that you have officially reached floor 2 (which is going to be a 2-chapter section) ;) This chapter will be a bit more split-up than the others. Also, Diavel isn’t going to be from relevance for a bit. Also, I am debating to do a time-skip after floor 2 to leave out some of the other fluff, just following the planned plot and going to something in the mid 20’s floor-wise. Oh yeah. Sorry for the 2-week pause. In compensation, there are two chapters uploaded today!  
> As always, feel free to PM me if you have any questions and leave a review if you found any typing/grammar/plot errors. You can also require spoilers if you so desire, as I do have the major points all planned out.  
> Enjoy!  
> ~Irelia Yuuki

~Maho’s and Asuna’s PoV, Time skip: 1 day.

Irelia just un-equipped her << **Chronokeeper** >> and << **Mimung** >> after the boss fight when her sister approached her. “Onee-chan, do you want to go shopping? I am kinda tired out after all this cow-killing.”

The duo had formed a party with Kirito and Sinon after they met up near a forest, away from the public, just to hunt down the 2nd floor field boss. Surprisingly, the location where the << **Bullbous** **Bow** >> was located, was the same as in the alpha stage. (In the beta, he was somewhere else.)

A fun fact was that the boss dropped an A-class ingredient that was called << **Pristine Giant Cow Steak** >>, a steak so large that it could really be from the bull-like boss. This encouraged Asuna, who then acquired the << **Cooking** >> skill, using a non-combat skill slot that she acquired with her sister a few days ago.

Although this was great and all, the actual << **Last-Attack Bonus** >> was a rapier that was called the << **Épée** >>. Its name was simple, but the weapon itself… oh my god was it strong. It was bombarded with residual effects, boosting its effective stats up to par to a floor 5 rapier. (Maxed out, the equivalent value reached that of a stock << **Mimung** >>.)

Not needing the blade, Irelia (who got the item by using a rather large combo on the << **Chronokeeper** >>), simply handed off the blade to Asuna, hoping that she wouldn’t mess up and get it broken.

After the fight, the four split up again, Kirito and Sinon continuing to hide, which is where the girls are now. Just left alone on the way back to << **Urbus** >>, grinding their butts off on floor 2.

~General PoV:

Kibaou was mad. Somebody had found the field boss of the 2nd floor and killed it. And much to his dismay, he could see who did it. (But not how.) He saw that Irelia, whom he already had secretly tagged as a Beater, work together with the other two beaters to kill the boss. The little chick Asuna was also there.

Not wanting to throw himself to the wolves by marking them as Beaters (all the players wanted to have evidence of such a thing), he waited for the right moment to do so, hoping that it would be soon.

Needlessly to say, one of the sisters had already planned to become a Beater.

The news of the four players beating up << **Bullbous Bow** >> also reached Diavel, who was more than surprised to hear that. Not even a week into the floor, and the people were already at it. This also made him furious as the girl who he hated the most took part in it.

Eventually, he decided not to care about it and get grinding, in hopes of clearing this floor and getting the revenge he deserved so thoroughly.

~Maho’s and Asuna’s PoV, Time skip: 2.5hrs

Irelia was despairing. Asuna had taken (or dragged to state it correctly) to shopping as soon as they were done grinding 30 minutes ago, and she was already annoyed by the fact. Among the things she hated most (in-game), was shopping. One could say that she liked shopping in real life, as she did indeed enjoy it once a while, but in-game, she saw it as a useless thing, being stuck in a death game and all.

“Onee-chan, how about this one?” Asuna asked, wearing a white blouse with jeans, wanting to get her sister’s opinion on the outfit.

“As I said, it looks decent. Like almost every other outfit in this store.” She stated, wanting nothing to do with this accursed waste of free time that Asuna loved so much.

“Okay, so I am done” Asuna said, earning her a sigh of relief from the black-haired girl. This made Asuna frown, though. “What do you find so bad about shopping?” She inquired, really annoyed about Irelia’s distaste of shopping. “I dunno… it just seems useless.” Her sister replied, not even trying to reason as her dislike was, honestly, unfounded.

Asuna, not wanting to deal with this anymore, just decided to let it be. “Oh well, let’s get home. The boss fight is like one week later, so I can still work on cooking~.” She said, a teasing tone in her voice, expecting Irelia to run. (The one thing she hated more than shopping was cooking, or so Asuna believed.)

Much to her surprise though, Irelia simply grinned, knowing that Asuna still thought that she ate out every day. The bitter truth was actually the total opposite; she cooked and ate at home every day, making cooking a hobby whilst she had nothing to do.

“Let’s go then. The hotel room has a kitchen, so we can cook there.” She said, earning her a surprised glance from Asuna. “Onee-chan, didn’t you hate cooking?” She asked.

“Oh Asuna, there are so many things you don’t know. By the way, I’m going to invite Kirito and Sinon if it’s OK with you.” “Sure!” With that, they made their way to the hotel, getting ready to cook dinner.

~Kazuto’s and Shino’s PoV:

“Oy, Sinon! Come and see this!” Kazuto shouted to Shino, who was currently showering. After the defeat of the field boss, they split up from the two girls almost immediately.

Before arriving at the hotel, they took a break on the fields somewhere at the foot of the mountain << **Urbus** >> was located in. After that, Sinon went resupplying and Kirito went searching for Argo, attempting to get quest information from her.

 One hour later, they’d both arrived at their hotel room, when Shino took a shower, which brings us to where we were after that call from Kazuto.

“OK! Just lemme get dried up real quick!” She said, her voice audible under the stopping water. Roughly two minutes later, she stepped out of the shower. “What’s up?” She asked as Kazuto showed her the message he just received a few minutes ago.

“ **Hey, Kazuto. You wanna come along for dinner today? Asuna brought up the idea of cooking and I just couldn’t resist. ;) Maho** ”

Reading this, Shino burst out laughing, astonishing Kazuto in the process.

“Mind telling me what’s so funny?” He asked as Shino finally gave in to the laughter and started laughing.

“Oh, it’s just that Maho used to hate cooking before she’s gone to the states. When she came back, she actually liked cooking. I can only assume that Asuna still didn’t know about Maho’s newfound hobby.” She explained after she caught herself from her laughing fit, causing Kazuto to chuckle and laugh.

“Well, let’s hope that Asuna isn’t that surprised about it.” He said, sounding a bit absent. “What’cha thinkin’ ‘bout?” Shino asked, clearly seeing that Kazuto was deep in thought.

“Well, I suppose that we can go, but how do we get their whereabouts?” He asked, ignoring the fact that he had the << **Tracking** >> mod for the << **Searching** >> skill installed pretty much instantly after he reached lv50 with it.

And then, Shino facepalmed. Literally facepalmed. After she calmed down, she opened the menu and showed the << **Tracking** >> Skill to Kazuto, whose eyes simply widened.

“*sigh* I guess I was brain-dead, wasn’t I?” He asked, sounding really despairing. Shino sighed, knowing that he was like this fairly often. “Yes you are.” She stated, whilst thinking: ‘ _All the time, everytime._ ’

In the end, they left their hotel, Kirito activating his << **Tracking** >> skill, only to find that the footprints of the Yuuki sisters were leading back into the Hotel.

“Hey! Whatchya doin’?” Sinon asked, a questioning look on her face as she saw Kirito go back into the inn. “Apparently, Asuna and Irelia are located in this hotel, too.” He said, the frown on his face quickly replaced by a smirk as Sinon’s mouth formed a perfectly round ‘O’ shape.

*SMACK*

“What are you gawking at, Kirito?” Sinon asked, blissfully oblivious of the face she made a few seconds ago whilst her lips showed the frown she always wore when she was bored or annoyed. Or mad, for that matter.

“I’m not gawking… I… just… saw your face and thought that it was adorable and all…” He said, that endlessly teasing never leaving his face whilst Sinon smacked him again.

“Ow! What was that for?” He asked, that previously mentioned grin fading into a pained expression.

“That, my friend, was for you telling me that I’m adorable…” She said, not having actually thought about her exact reasoning for hitting Kirito.

“… Whatever… let’s just go.” He said, still in a pained expression.

~Time skip: 1 hour 30 minutes

“Dinner’s ready!” Maho sounded, clearly excited about her first completely self-made virtual meal.

After setting the table, the friends sat down to enjoy the classical American steak & mashed potatoes Maho whipped together. Still being new to cooking, the sisters didn’t expect anything to work as planned.

Cooking was successful, though and the steak at least looked very delicious. “Wow, Maho… didn’t expect you being so good at cooking…” Kazuto mused, earning him a very loud smack from Maho.

‘ _Why does everybody here physically abuse me?_ ’ He thought, rubbing his head in the process.

“Just… Don’t…” She said, annoyance clear in her tone whilst mentioning to Asuna, telling her to elaborate.

“Well, onee-chan was living alone in the US and-” She began, before she got interrupted by Kazuto. “I know the story… but still…” He said, not knowing what to say.

“Oh well, let’s just start eating” Maho said. ‘ _I certainly don’t wanna deal with that again…_ ’

And with that, the four teens dug in. The meal was delicious, the Meat tender and the mashed potatoes really smooth. (A/N: I actually want to say that there are no chunks in there but whatever) This great result encouraged the sisters to continue their hobby, improving the needed skill in the process.

Within half an hour, they were finished with eating and discussing the 2nd floor boss. Eventually, they (or rather, Kazuto) noticed a familiar hooded figure getting cornered by a few black-clad players.

“Guys, that’s Argo getting cornered there!” The brunet said, resulting in the whole group rushing out of the room.

~Argo’s PoV (3rd person)

Meanwhile, the infamous rodent was getting cornered and forced into an alleyway by the players. “Awwwww come on! You’d sell ANYTHING! You said so yourself!” one of them shouted, clearly annoyed of Argo’s unwillingness to sell them their desired information.

Suddenly, a hooded girl jumped in front of Argo and a duel request popped up in the Aggressor’s menu. “Whaaaa…?” He said, clearly fazed by the girl’s sudden appearance.

“Well… she doesn’t wanna sell you the info so I suggest you to get away from her before I beat you into a pulp in the safe zone.” She said, the coldness clear in her voice.

‘ _Wait, I know this voice… if this isn’t the little ‘relia… damn she can be cold…_ ’ Argo thought, surprised by the female’s iciness.

Every single one of the faces of the four men that were corning Argo was now scowling, fairly mad that a girl approximately 10 or 15 years younger than them dared to challenge them.

“Well, how about a one versus one, right now? If you win, we’ll let her be and never ask her for any information again… If I win she gives me the info for free.” He said, clearly not scared of the << **Mimung** >> Irelia was now holding.

“Well, why not. I’ll fight every single one of you.” She said, a little grin forming on her facial features as the man accepted the duel request and the one minute countdown started.

Once the timer reached zero, both players dashed forwards, blades clashing in the middle of the alleyway they were located in.

Amazement crossed the man’s features as he saw that his two-handed broadsword was easily stopped by the nimble little rapier of a weak looking girl, whilst a cheeky smirk crossed his opponent’s features as she got out of the bladelock and sidestepped.

Now that the man’s broadsword had no opposing force to stop it, it continued down the path it was originally headed, the only difference being that the target had long since moved out of danger’s way.

Because the man’s balance was already off from the heavy weight of his blade, he tumbled after he executed the strike as there was no body to stop the blade of his.

Irelia, being the person that she was, of course relentlessly took advantage of this. Considering the strong damage output of her << **Mimung** >>, one simple << **Linear** >> would be enough to bring his HP to well below 50% winning her the duel in the process.

Doing just that, she stabbed forward, hitting the tumbling man square in the back, bringing his HP to 30% and shattering his armor in the process of doing so.

“If you wanna fight someone, at least fight someone you could actually have the slimmest chances of beating, because this is ridiculous.” She said, walking away after grabbing Argo’s arm.

As Irelia walked out of the alleyway, she encountered Kirito and Sinon. “What happened?” The latter asked with a wondering glance to Irelia’s equipped weapon and her stance, still holding Argo’s arm.

“Well, go and find out if you wish.” The hooded girl said, continuing to walk, dragging Argo along.

“Wait… where are we going, ‘relia?” The rodent asked, earning her a caring glance from the older girl’s emerald-colored eyes.

“I’m dropping you home.” She said, sighing afterwards. ‘ _At least she’s back to using that friendly tone of hers._ ’ Argo thought, still a bit shocked of the coldness Irelia could emit when she was agitated.

~Kazuto’s and Shino’s PoV:

After Irelia walked away with Argo, or rather the former pulling the latter player along, Kirito and Sinon were dwelling in their thoughts. One moment, they were intending to get Argo out of her predicament. The next, Irelia was gone. And then, the girl showed up with Argo a few moments later.

‘What was going on in there?’ Was the thing the both thought when they stepped into the Alleyway, only to find a man, on all fours, crying.

“What’s happened?” Sinon asked, concern totally absent from the voice as she probably knew what had played out here a few moments ago. ‘Judging by his HP-bar and armor, Maho didn’t go easy on him.’ She thought whilst Kirito stepped up next to her.

“*sobs* My Armor! It just broke! And I almost got one-hit KO’d by some hooded girl trying to protect an info-broker.” He lamented, the distress still present in his voice.

‘So my guess was wrong… Maho DID go easy on him… he’s lucky that his sword and life are both still intact.’ She told herself, making a mental note to ask her long-time friend about this incident later.

“Well, it was sorta your fault, really.” Kirito spoke, surprising Sinon with that statement. “You bullied the info-broker without knowing about her friends.” He continued, not noticing his companion’s look. “With her level, she could kill you with one << **Quadruple Pain** >>.” He finished, gesturing to Sinon for them to leave, which they did.

After they walked for a while, Sinon decided to break the ice and start a conversation. “What was that?” She asked, enticing a shrug from Kirito. “I mean she simply disappeared. Then, when she shows up, she’s already saved Argo and almost one-shot a guy.” She mused, still with that thoughtful look on her face.

“Honestly, I think that she made the right call.” He said, thinking about the brunette’s actions whilst walking and talking with his blue-haired friend.

After this, the ever-present veil of silence came down onto the pair again. Not thinking more about it, Sinon accidentally spoke up. “Damn… if I only knew what has gotten into Maho recently…” She mused, her voice bearing a thoughtful note.

“Nobody knows, Sinon.” Kirito said, getting a blush from the girl.

*SMACK*

“OW! Damnit what was that for again…?” Kirito asked, still clutching his head. “Well, I guess that, since you got me to blush, I should smack you… like I always do…” Sinon said, sounding really sweet… too sweet. “Are you a tsundere or something?” Kirito asked, holding up his arms in defense when he saw Sinon’s pout.

“No…” She finally said, not really knowing what to say in situation. “I guess that I simply get agitated if people see me blush.” She concluded and Kirito nodded.

~Diavel’s PoV (1st person)

I just saw those two beaters walking along, hushingly chit-chatting about something regarding Argo. ‘ _Damn, that blue-haired gal is gorgeous…_ ’ Was the only thing I thought as she smacked her companion.

Eventually, I decided that she was OK in spite of her being a friend of that other disgusting girl of their group. (The one that hid her disgusting face behind that smug little coat of hers.)

Eventually, Kibaou came up behind me. “Are you alright?” He asked, probably taking notice of my semi-dreamy expression.

“I’m alright.” I assured him before turning away again, staring at their last location. “Let’s go scouting for the boss…” I said, starting to walk towards the town gate whilst assembling my party.

‘ _Not this time, little girl. Not this time. If you plan on stealing my glory again, you will pay the price._ ’

~Kazuto’s PoV (1st person), time skip: 2 days.

“Finally!” I heard a voice shout, pulling me back into the lands of the waking, so to say.

After Maho saved the rat, she showed us the Origin of her ‘Whiskers’. It was a quest for the << **Martial Arts** >> extra skill… which proves to be the bane of our good looks, I suppose.

After accepting the quest, he painted whiskers across our cheeks, telling us that they wouldn’t go off unless one completed the quest. (Which is simple – crack a big ol’ boulder with one’s bare fists.)

Argo had apparently accepted the quest and abandoned it, resulting in her keeping the whiskers for good, after which the whiskers became her trademark during the beta-test. In the release version of the game, she painted them back on with makeup, wanting to keep up her rodent nickname.

And then, I was greeted with a really beautiful sight. Maho was sitting on Shino’s lap, hugging her and kissing her on the cheek after mumbling something I couldn’t hear.

After she apparently remembered what she was doing, she blushed heavily. (Thinking back, I think that it’s the deepest red I had seen her cheeks in so far.)

“Sup?” I asked, not noticing the smirk that had formed up on my lips before Maho walked over and smacked me on my head.

“Ow! What was that for?” I asked, confused about her actions. (She was still blushing deep red.)

“That was for your stupid little smirk.” She said, after which Shino came up to me and smacked me as well. Less painful but still.

“That too.” She said, the blush also visible on her face. “Ok…” I started. “I think that smirking with you near me will always result in some kind of pain for me.” I concluded, writing confusion on both of their faces.

A few seconds later, a congratulations screen popped up, telling us that we could now equip the << **Martial Arts** >> skill when we next get a free skill slot.

“I guess that swinging me towards a boulder when I am punching it helps crack it.” Shino said, probably aware of the fact that I had the mental image of this in mind; Maho tossing the younger girl in the air and the latter punching the rock with all her might.

“… Oh well. Let’s go home. I’ve had enough isolation for a while.” I said, yearning for my soft, soft bed in the inn.

**To be continued.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t think that I am gonna make anything out of their kiss so don’t mind me doing that. They’ve been friends for so long that they don’t pay any more thought to little tokens of affection for each other.  
> If you have some questions that need answering (or like the story), feel free to leave a review. If you found a typo/grammar/plot error, leave a PM. If you like the story, feel free to review and follow.  
> Constructive criticism is always appreciated as is any kind of feedback.  
> Whatever. I hope that you enjoyed this roughly 3k words long chapter of fluffiness without plot whatsoever and look forward to the next, which I also have planned out.  
> Enough of me rambling on now! Thanks for reading!  
> Ja ne!  
> ~Irelia Yuuki


	5. Rondo of a fragile Blade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey guys and welcome to a new chapter of SAO: The Spirit Blades. This chapter is going to be the 2nd floor boss fight and then some. I have taken the liberty of modifying some factors of the boss for those who actually read the light novels or manga. By the way, this chapter is going to be critical to really understand my OC (Maho), so reading the backstory is strongly advised.  
> Enjoy!  
> ~Irelia Yuuki  
> Disclaimer: bla bla yada yada see chp1

~Maho’s PoV (1st person), time skip: 10 days

I just finished off the last << **Wind Wasp** >> that was lingering around here as a familiar golden hue surrounded me, notifying me that I had just leveled up.

I was, with the level-up, now level 27 (due to me grinding my ass of 22 hours a day). My AGI was at 45 and my STR was at 36. Now, I’ve acquired the << **Martial** **Arts** >> extra skill. In the end, I’ve got 7 skills; << **Spirit** **Blades:** **Hiten** >>, << **One-handed** **Rapier** >>, << **Battle Healing** >>, << **Sprinting** >>, << **Acrobatics** >>, << **Cooking** >> and the aforementioned << **Martial Arts** >> extra skill.

Having split up with Asuna a while ago, I learned that grinding was a lot easier when she wasn’t around. She’d simply have worried too much about me getting burned out, resulting in me being incautious and dying. (I think that she still doesn’t understand that mental fatigue was the only thing plaguing you if you overexert yourself in SAO.)

Also, after finally getting my whiskers washed off, I smacked the rat on the head for the fact that she didn’t tell us what it was to begin with. (We could’ve stuck with those ugly as hell whiskers forever…) And yes, I like smacking people every now and then… even my own sister has fallen victim to this habit often enough.

Actually, I was on my way to the boss meeting whilst messaging Kirito and Sinon, telling them to meet me and Asuna there.

~Time skip: 20 mins.

After waiting 5 minutes for the duo to show up, my sister and me decided that we would wait for them at the nearest café and get ourselves some latte macchiato… only to see them around the corner.

“Sup?” I asked, tentatively rising a brow and giving them a questioning look, playing the good old Spanish inquisition.

“Well, we’re still early…” Sinon said, an incredibly adorable pout making its way across her face.

“You both know that we tend to arrive at the meeting 30 minutes before it starts don’t you? Man, what have you been up to all day?” I asked, getting a smirk on Kirito’s and Sinon’s faces.

“We went grinding. We’re both like level 23 now.” He said, obviously thinking that he’d out-leveled me.

“Level 27.” Was the only thing I said before their smirks turned into surprised expressions. “How?” They similarly asked, earning them one of my more exasperated glances.

“I went grinding 22 hours a day, sleeping and eating in between.” I said, putting them in an even deeper state of shock.

“How does one do that?” Sinon asked, clearly surprised that I had grinded for such a long time.

“Well… if you plan on revealing your skills to the world in the boss fight, you want to be as strong as remotely possible.” I replied, a calm grin on my face as I saw both of them smile as well.

After that, we went through our respective stats. Kirito and Sinon were both level 25, Kirito having spent 42 points in STR and 33 into AGI. Sinon did the opposite, basing her attacks on speed rather than strength.

In the end, they both also had 7 skills; Kirito had the << **One-Handed** **Sword** >>, << **Hiding** >>, << **Searching** >>, << **Battle Healing** >>, << **Parry** >>, << **Fishing** >> and << **Martial Arts** >> skills, whilst Sinon had the << **Blade Throwing** >>, << **One-Handed Dagger** >>, << **First** **Aid** >>, << **Hiding** >>, << **Searching** >>, << **Sprinting** >> and the << **Martial Arts** >> skills.

To my surprise, Asuna actually out-leveled Kirito and Sinon. She was level 26, having 45 points in AGI and 33 in STR. Her 6 skills were composed of << **One-Handed Rapier** >>, << **Parry** >>, << **First Aid** >>, << **Hiding** >>, << **Acrobatics** >> and << **Cooking** >>.

20 minutes of discussing later, we came to the conclusion that we could probably kill the boss with only us four, assuming that the boss hasn’t changed from the beta. (Due to their recounting and my memories matching, the boss was the same as in the alpha.)

In the end, the meeting started 5 minutes earlier than expected, which is when I noticed a certain blue-haired somebody standing there and being all cheery and happy and stuff. Until he saw me, at least.

‘ _Why have I saved him in the first place???_ ’

~Diavel’s PoV (1st person)

I arrived at the marketplace for the boss meeting Lind and I have called in as I saw a familiar face, making mine concoct into an angry scowl. Reminding myself of her actions, I come to the conclusion that I can’t exclude her from the party, should she choose to participate in the boss fight.

‘ _Well, better approach them and see their results before kicking them out the raid party and regretting it._ ’ Was what went on in my head as I approached them, face in a diplomatic neutral as I am aware that those four could probably take the boss by themselves, if their levels were high enough.

“Whoa, calm down, feisty pants. I’m just givin’ you a heads up for the boss fight, with you being beta-testers and all that.” I said as I saw Irelia’s face turn into a frown right as I approached them.

“I think that we know enough about the boss already.” She said as the two beaters nodded. “However, we wish to see how their reputation holds up in public.” Was what she said as she gestured to the guy and the blue-haired girl.

“Ok. So I’ll just leave you be for now, or what?” I asked, masking my intention of getting their stats. (They were smart and hid their stats from the public.)

“Yeah. By the way, I’ll message you our stats for the raid. We don’t want you getting our party to be in a wrong position.” She said as she waved up her menu, typing away at the message screen and ending the conversation.

As I left them, Lind approached me. “Diavel, you got their stats?” He asked whilst the sound of a PM came up.

“I’ve got them.” I replied, a confident smile on my face as I opened the PM which contained all the stats of those four players.

“ **Irelia: Level: 22, AGI: 35, STR: 31.**  
**Kirito: Level: 21, AGI: 28, STR: 35.**  
**Sinon: Level: 21, AGI: 35, STR: 28.**  
**Asuna: Level: 22, AGI: 41, STR: 25.”**

“Damn impressive levels they’ve got…” Lind mumbled. “This is at least 3 levels higher than the rest of the party.”

“Yeah, I suppose that they’re very important assets to the team right now.” I said as I turned my attention to the large group again, relaying the location and attack patterns of the boss to the raid party.

~Maho’s, Kirito’s, Asuna’s and Sinon’s PoV:

“Onee-chan, are you sure that it’s ok to give them our stats?” Asuna asked, clearly uncomfortable with Diavel having their stats.

“Oh don’t worry, Asuna, I’m giving them false stats.” Maho replied. ‘ _Though the stats are tuned down a little, they are still impressive… let’s just see how that’ll turn out._ ’

“Well, I trust Irelia’s judgement.” Sinon said, albeit with a tone that betrayed the fact that she was also not comfortable with Diavel having their stats.

“They’re toned down anyways! Just cut it out, ok? It’s like real annoying if you’re trying to act inconspicuously and having so many people question you there and then.” Maho snapped, the annoyance dripping from the tone she used.

“Damn, she’s right… We have to give them our stats if we want to join in on this raid. If we don’t, we’ll just be turned away because of our beater status.” Kirito joined in, adding his argument into the mix.

“Whatever. What is done is done. Just deal with it.” Maho said. ‘ _And if you don’t, it ain’t gonna be my problem now or ever._ ’

“Oh well. Let’s just get this meeting behind us.” Kirito said, exasperated as he was dealing with all this stuff. ‘Great. Asuna’s just acting up on this whole shit.’ He thought, rolling his eyes.

Half an hour later, they already left the boss meeting 25 minutes ago. (They’ve simply got the location of the boss room and got the time for the raid from Diavel, so there was no real reason for them to stay.)

Asuna was staying with her sister, on the way to the hotel to get some dinner madem, whilst Kirito and Sinon went off to do some grinding. (They weren’t exactly pleased as they heard that Asuna was still a level higher than them after all.)

“You serious about that?” Asuna asked Irelia, wondering about the gossip that was sure to come with the beaters leaving the boss meeting so early.

“Oh don’t worry, Asuna, It isn’t gonna be that bad as you think. The people, although not benevolent, wouldn’t turn down a helping hand. That’s simply how they work.” The older sibling explained, not really interested in the fact that gossip is going around already.

“Oh, no I wasn’t talking about that…” Asuna said. “I was talking about their already risky rep.” She concluded, earning her a surprised glance from Maho.

“If that’s what you mean, don’t worry. They’ll have a new player to dump their jealousy on soon enough. And to be honest, I couldn’t give more of a shit about that as I would on other online games.” Maho said, also considering this point of Asuna’s not very worrisome.

‘ _Well, all the hate that I got in the US certainly proves that point…_ ’ She silently mused, reminding herself of the ragequitting opponents she faced in several different, long session, online games.

“I guess…” Asuna said, clinging herself to her sister’s arm. “But for god’s sake, be safe. I can’t risk losing you. I wouldn’t know what to do without you.” Her tone was scared, distressed even.

A pang of guilt overcame Maho as she heard her sister talking. ‘ _I’ve neglected my little sister half my life already. Dying on her would probably break her… more than she already is… and irreparably so…_ ’ She thought, reminding herself of the joy she found her sibling to be in when she was present, and the sorrow Asuna endured when she found out that Maho was going to the US for 3 years.

All of that encouraged her to wrap the chestnut-haired girl into an embrace. “Shhhhh… it’s going to be alright. I am not going to die. Not in this game, not back in the real world, and not anytime soon.” She soothed, her voice cracking as she said so.

“Sorry… for cutting you out of the latter half of my life… I promise that, now that I am back, I won’t shut you out.” Maho continued, trying to apologize for her actions.

“It’s ok.” Asuna replied, tears in her eyes. “It’s because of mom… I know… there’s nothing to apologize for. After all, I was allowed to pursue my own desires thanks to you.”

After that, Asuna wound herself out of the hug and started walking, Irelia being quick to follow. The rest of the walk was spent in amiable silence, neither one of the sisters wanting (or needing) to talk. It almost seems like Maho has finally broken the imaginary wall that has grown between them in the past few years.

~Time skip: 2 hours.

The sisters were sitting at the dinner table, having cooked up (and eaten) some ramen using the utensils they got from the market whilst heading home. The veil of silence had just settled on the room as Asuna decided to break it again.

“Neh, onee-chan, how did you convince mom to let me do my thing?” She asked, finally wanting some answers Maho had withheld up until now.

“I don’t know, actually. I think it was the day I got a stipendium to the MIT Massachusetts three years ago. As you know, I skipped like 6 grades and I had yet to not ace a single exam. Then, they offered me a complete stipendium for attending their school and taking an IT major, with rates so high that it made working obsolete whilst living independently and comfortably.” She recounted, deciding to start at the very beginning.

“In the end, I refused the proposal because I wanted to stay here and rest for a while. Skipping 6 years of school took its toll in form of learning. Although I probably learned less than an average student, I was a lot younger and my scores were a lot better than the average. So, I started playing computer games because I sucked at pretty much everything else extracurricular, with the exception of fencing.” She continued, still being as detailed as ever.

“One day after making up my mind about MIT, mother approached me. She told me that if I went to the states, she’d grant me three wishes. One for every year that I am to spend away from japan. The wishes could’ve been everything, and as long as it was reasonable, she would fulfill that wish without questioning or complaining. I could’ve gotten myself a car, for example. Simple as that.” Irelia said, her voice not as stable or composed as she’d have liked.

‘ _So that’s why mom told me that onee-chan has given done everything she could for me… she’s_ literally _wished for my happiness._ ’ Asuna thought, eyes filling with unshed tears of happiness.

“Naturally, I accepted the offer after I saw you crying over your future, as you didn’t want to study… what was it again… chemistry…? The thought of you being so sad made me equally sad, which is the reason why I can’t bear you being so sad. That eventually led into me wishing for your freedom, per say… Although it wasn’t literally your freedom. It rather can be described as allowing you to take your life in your own hands.” She concluded, earning her a neck-breaking embrace from the other.

“Thank you… So much…” Asuna croaked out, sobbing between the words. Only now had she realized that her sister had left japan for her. Or rather, for her _happiness_. ‘ _She isolated herself from the world just so that I could be happy…_ ’

In the end, after continuing Maho’s story, (Which entailed her time in the US, which is another story for another time,) the siblings decided that it was time to go and get ready for bed.

After taking a shower, the green-eyed girl found two familiar somebodies in the living room of the inn they were living in.

“EEEEEK!” She screamed, resulting in Kirito, Asuna and Sinon jumping up and looking at her, shocked expressions on all their faces.

“Onee-chan, aren’t you supposed to be in PJ’s?” Asuna tentatively asked, surprised that her sister was standing there in bra and panties. “Asuna, you know as well as I do that my habits of sleeping haven’t changed one bit these years.” Her sister said, annoyance in her voice as she equipped a bathrobe.

“WHAT??? You sleep in underwear???” Sinon questioned, trying to deal with the fact that her longest-time friend shared the same sleeping habits as herself. ‘ _Damn… I never could’ve imagined that that was one of the reasons she preferred separate rooms during the month we spent together…_ ’

“Well, that’s a sight to behold. The great Maho Yuuki is sleeping in underwear!” Kirito exclaimed, after which his face instantly got more fearful from the looks the girls were sending him. “Damn…” was all he muttered before the girls gave him a beating.

Although the aforementioned beating was short, it was quite painful indeed. After the three girls were finished, Maho decided to introduce Kirito and Sinon to Asuna for real.

“Asuna, this is Asada Shino. To be frank, I believe that you’ve already heard quite a bit about her from me or mom, so I’m not surprised if you told me that you knew her already. And that other guy is Kirigaya Kazuto. Although I don’t know him as well as Shino, he’s still got a kind heart, which is the reason we became friends.” Maho said, earning her a surprised glance from Asuna.

“Now that she knows our names, I suppose that there is no reason for us not to know hers… right?” Shino asked, before thinking her words over again. “…Although I suppose that we already know…”

“Yep, you sure do!” Asuna chimed, certainly happy about the outcome of this as the people who she previously considered as allies were now her _friends_. “Nice to meet you, Shino-chan, Kazuto-kun.”

“Oh yeah. Remember to call us by our in-game names if we’re in public. It wouldn’t do us any good to find other people knowing about our real-life relationships at the moment.” Maho reminded Asuna, figuring that she didn’t know this rule of online gaming. “OK, will do.” Was all her sister said about that subject for the rest of the evening.

Eventually, Shino and Kazuto left for their own room and the four players fell asleep, only to be awoken by a PM to all of them at 7:30 AM the next day.

“ **Greetings, Players.  
A new patch has arrived for Sword Art Online. It contains some of the content that was still WIP during the beta-stage.  
Here is the exact change log to the version 1.0.0.101 (release).  
*Player-bound quest series: These extremely hard quests often give a unique player-bound item as reward! Be aware that only ONE PLAYER can accept the quest at the time. (And its continuation quests of the series.) If the player dies while the quest series is still active, the quest series will reset and any player-bound items acquired will reset until somebody else claims them by completing the quests required.  
**Once the quest series is complete, it will be marked complete until the person to do so dies. (When that happens, the quest also resets, becoming available for the next player. Exception are the 5 UNIQUE quest series.)  
**At the moment, there are 1250 common quest series (medium), 600 uncommon quest series (hard), 100 rare quest series (very hard), 45 ultra-rare quest series (extreme), and 5 UNIQUE quest series (???).  
**Be aware that the rarity of the quest + 2 (with enhanced stats) is the rarity of the reward. (For example, a common quest will have a rare weapon as reward for all stages of the quest. Exception: ultra-rare quests still have a legendary class weapon as reward. UNIQUE quests will require the reward weapon as tribute to start the next stage of the quest. The reward items will be unique weapons and are also player-bound, perishing when the player dies.)  
**be aware that the UNIQUE class quests can only be taken ONCE. If the player dies whilst attempting to complete the quest (or the continuation quests of one of the applying series), the quest will remain dormant, never to be taken again.  
*Custom Weapons: With this, an essentially infinite amount of weapons have been just introduced to the world of SAO. The system will now randomly generate the exterior, stats and effects of the weapon drops, depending on the rarity (and location) of said drop.  
*Boss characteristics have been changed:  
**Boss weapon breaking: The boss’ combat characteristics have been made more realistic as their weapons and armor can now be broken (and have durability), resulting in a bonus material drop for the breaker of the weapon at the end of the battle. Bosses are also not immune to debuffs anymore. (They suffer a reduced effect, depending on the applied de-buff.)  
**Boss hate: bosses will now build up hate towards players that attack it, preferring to damage them if the opportunity presents itself.  
*Some improvements to the taste reproduction engine.  
*Improvements to crystals:  
** <<Healing crystal>>, <<Teleport Crystal>>, <<Antidote Crystal>>: cost down  
**<<Corridor Crystal>>: duration up, rarity up.  
**<<Message Record Crystal>>, <<Record Crystal>>, <<Screen-Shot Camera Crystal>>: quality improved, cost down, several bugs removed and rarity down.  
*Changes to items: (A/N: I am only writing the relevant ones.)  
**<<Mimung>>: DMG down by 10, (110 –> 100), Crit up by 5% (20 % –> 25%) Residual effects: <<Durability shred>>, <<Pointed>>, <<Quick Rest>>, <<Crit Up>>, ADDED: <<Scavenger>>, <<Unbreakable>>.**  
 **** <<Épée>>: DMG down by 5 (45 –> 40) Crit down by 5% (22.5% –> 17.5%), Residual effects: <<Pointed>>, <<Quick rest>>, ADDED: <<Fast Charge>>, <<Crit Up>>.**  
 **** <<Ebony Wing>>: DMG up by 5 (20 –> 25), Crit up by 5% (15% –> 20%), Cost up by 1000 (1500 –> 2500).**  
 **** <<Anneal Blade>>: DMG down by 5 (20 –> 15).**  
 **The next patch will arrive somewhere around Christmas, entailing new quest series and other updates!”**

“Wow…” Shino muttered, having just read the extensive patch notes, noting the similar reactions from Kazuto.

“Let’s meet up with the others.” He said, still revising the patch notes in his mind. ‘ _Damn, my << **Anneal Blade** >> has been hit quite hard... I’ve got to be even more careful in the future._’

And with that, they were off to find Maho and Asuna, who are currently also reading the patch notes.

“The raid is at 10:00, right?” Asuna asked her sister. “Yeah, so we have two and a half hours left.” She replied, sounding not at all pleased because of ‘not sleeping enough’. (Actually, Maho’s just mad because she wasn’t allowed to sleep through.)

“*squeal* Great! I still have enough time to get my rapier upgraded!” The younger girl said, voice full of excitement. And with that, they made their way to the blacksmith.

~Time skip: 30 mins

“Hey Asuna! Irelia!” Kirito shouted, walking over to them. “Sup?” “You ready for the boss fight?” Kirito asked.

Not at all fazed about the sudden appearance of her friend, Irelia simply replied, giving them the status of their equipment: “Yea, we have 15 healing crystals, 2 teleport crystals, an antidote crystal and a bunch of pots each. The weapons are all ready and upgraded as is the armor.” ‘ _And Asuna hasn’t let me continue to sleep because of that._ ’ She added silently.

“Well, if that’s so… can I convince you two to get some breakfast with me and Kirito?” Sinon piped up, thinking that a breakfast with the Yuuki sisters might be just right to lighten the mood before a boss fight. (With the right amount of teasing, of course.)

“Sure! I’ll just get this wrapped up real quick.” Irelia agreed, knowing that Sinon will possibly (and probably) tease the shit out of her if she gave her any opening at all. ‘ _I’ll simply not give her the opportunity… and get Asuna back for waking me that early…_ ’

After that thought, an evil smirk appeared on Irelia’s face, causing Sinon to frown in turn. Whomever Irelia smirked like that to, Sinon knew, was in for either a very good prank or a very harsh punishment. “So, Sinon, about my little sis…” And then, she jokingly threatened to tease Sinon if the younger girl didn’t tease Asuna during breakfast.

~Time skip: 1hr 30 mins.

Breakfast has been a quick thing, always has been for the four players, who had cheesecake, (Which, according to Asuna, doesn’t taste like cheesecake.) French toast, tea and coffee. Of course, Sinon didn’t want to get teased, so she teased Asuna like there was no tomorrow, which resulted in a very upset Asuna.

Eventually, after they left the café behind, they made their way to the boss chamber, which was conveniently located in a dungeon near << **Urbus** >>. A few miles to the north and one arrived at said dungeon.

Now, they were walking through the dungeon, working towards the boss room for 5 minutes.

“Neh, Kirito-kun, how do you think we should approach the boss?” Asuna asked, still not knowing the detailed information about it as Kirito only covered the general specs of the boss.

Instead of the expected boy answering her question, it was her sister who proposed the fighting plan. I’ve recently unlocked the << **Lightning Revolver** >> skill on my << **Chronokeeper** >>. With my current stats, it should deal, when fully stacked, enough damage to take out two of the boss’ HP bars if we assume that the pre-nerf << **Anneal Blade** >> +7 needed roughly 80 (1200 / {[20 + 7*2.5] * 40%} = 80)  or 90 hits to deplete one of the four HP bars. It can be positioned straight at its weakpoint and strike without me taking damage, because he flinches when hit there.”

“So you are saying that you are willing to put your life in danger to fight the boss?” Asuna asked. “I know that your blades reduce your defensive stats.”

“It’s ok, Asuna, as long as I hit the boss with the first strike, he’ll continue to flinch with each strike I deliver, rendering him unable to move during that duration.” Irelia reasoned, trying to convince Asuna (and herself) that this wasn’t as dangerous as it actually is.

“Also, consider the options. Either we deal with the boss using true damage, damage amplification due to a weakspot, two damage up perks and a permaflinch, OR we deal with it the old fashioned way… The boss has 1200 HP in each HP bar. With my current level, it would take roughly 30 hits using the <<Mimung>> to get his HP bar down by one, of which he has 4. (1200 / [100*40%] = 30, boss having << **Thick Insulation** >> negates << **Pointed** >> and 60% damage is reduced due to very high armor values, assuming that we can’t get to the weakspot.) OR, we could use the << **Chronokeeper** >>, which does 100 true damage on hit (50*2 due to << **Attack** **Boost** >>, << **Pointed** >> and the weakspot.) and finish him using my new up-to 24-hit combo in 5 minutes.” She reasoned, putting her choices in a more clear light.

“I guess that this makes sense. But please… be careful.” Asuna gave in, sounding even more anxious than before.

Seeing this, Irelia decided to hug her sister. “Hey… it’s gonna be ok. I already told you that I wouldn’t die on you. Not now, not tomorrow, not in this life. I won’t leave you like that again.”

After that conversation, the group continued on in the dungeons until reaching the boss room, where they waited for the raid party to show up. During that time, they had a conversation about revealing Irelia’s unique skill.

“So… Onee-chan, how do you think they’ll react when they see your unique skill?” Asuna asked, concern lacing her young voice. “Well, they’ll be jealous. And upset because it is apparently so ‘OP’ as you would call it.” Irelia reasoned, sounding completely aware of the third fact that was looming upon them; the fact that she might be accused to be Kayaba’s henchman. Or henchwoman. Or whatever.

‘If that comes true, I’ll simply go solo or with the other two.’ Irelia reasoned, seemingly completely oblivious about the people’s willingness to kill.

As if Asuna could read her sister’s thoughts, she came up with a quote from Thomas Hobbes. “Remember. Homo homini lupus. The man is a wolf for his fellow men, meaning that the people won’t hesitate to kill you if it means for them to get some sort of benefit out of it.”

“You’re right, though. I’ll simply get to that when the time comes. Just don’t hate me for this.” The older girl said, not wanting to think about the worst possible outcome. “Besides, people already know that there is a unique skill user around, don’t they?”

That’s when Kirito decided to join the conversation. “For the beta-testers that’s true. Also, Kayaba said that there was a second unique skill already en route for somebody. The nature of it, according to him, would be released within a week after clearing floor 9.”

After discussing the possible natures of the second unique skill, they seemed to stray off subject. Going from archery to Sinon’s skills with ranged weapons to something entailing fish in SAO and then to the sleep system. Once a conversation swayed, it was difficult to get it back on track.

Finally, they reached the place, after 8 more changes of subject, and waited for the raid party to show up. When they finally did 15 minutes later, their faces all sported annoyed frowns or angry scowls. “So where were these four hiding at during the meeting?” One guy asked, peeved that somebody had gotten here before him.

“Quit it. I’m here to kick some Taurus king’s butt and not get flamed by mad players.” Irelia said, effectively revealing that she knew that boss inside the room.

“Okay, okay, calm down, Joan.” A calm voice interjected, stopping Joan from further harassing the few players. “They are like 4 to 5 levels higher than us and thus are the most valuable asset to the party at the moment. You better be respectful toward them.” Lind said, walking towards the party.

Turning his attention to them, he said: “Sorry ‘bout that. Joan is very… impulsive sometimes.” “Apology accepted. To be honest, I could honestly not care much less about how the people act towards me whilst I am online.” Irelia said, her tone demanding superiority without sounding toxic. Her tone betrayed also the fact that she would cut down anybody threatening her (except for Asuna, Sinon and maybe Kirito) without hesitation, which caused the players, including her party, to flinch.

“Let’s get this boss done, why don’t we?” Diavel interrupted, exasperation clear in his voice and eyes. “So, Kirito, Sinon, Asuna, Irelia, you four are the main damage party of this raid. The tanks will try and tank the damage and disables while you recharge. Rinse, repeat, victory.” He explained, thinking that his plan was truly majestic.

“Well, I have a better plan. But first, look at this.” She said, getting her << **Chronokeeper** >> out of her inventory.

The whole raid party erupted into gasps of shock and surprise at the sight of this four-bladed weapon. When the initial surprise died down, Diavel spoke up, hostility in his voice. “What is this about, Irelia?”

This sentence just made Irelia sigh in exasperation. Instead of directly replying, she countered with a question instead. “Seriously, Diavel? I thought you knew about the unique skill that was distributed in the alpha stage, as Kayaba announced it in the beta too. Or are you too stubborn to acknowledge that fact?”

“So you are telling me that _you_ out of all people has won the unique skill?” He asked, disgust accompanying his unspoken declaration that he deserved it. “Yes.”

Irelia’s reply just made him scowl even more than the hidden fact that she was indeed, according to Kayaba Akihiko, a better player than him. (He himself stated that almost every alpha tester was _very_ skilled.)

Eventually, Sinon decided that this was enough and cut in. “Now if you’ll both stop this senseless dispute, we’ve got a boss to kill.” She also said to Irelia that she still had a plan to explain.

“Thanks, Sinon. My plan was to use the newest skill I’ve acquired, << **Lightning Revolver** >>, to essentially one-shot the boss. If I can fully charge it and hit the correct location, it’ll be enough to take all the HP off the boss. It ignores armor values, after all.”

After Irelia was finished, everyone was stunned. Stunned by the fact that somebody had already gotten a unique skill and could one-shot the floor boss.

Eventually, Diavel regained his composure. Thinking to preserve the little respect he had left, he formed a battle plan around Irelia. “So, you’re expecting us to tank for you whilst you charge up the sword skill of yours, correct?” After confirmation from said girl, he continued the questioning. “How long will it take?”

Deciding to further elaborate, Maho simply explained the mechanic of the skill to the party. “So, it’ll take 5 minutes to fully charge it. When I’m charging, I build up the boss’ << **Hate** >>. Keep in mind that with reaching max stacks I’ll also maximize the boss’ << **Hate** >> towards me, meaning that he’ll probably actively go for me. Also, if I get hit whilst channeling, I’ll lose all stacks.”

This actually threw Diavel off, not realizing that a unique skill could come with drawbacks like that. “So, you’re just telling us that this skill is actually weak as hell when not used correctly?” “Yes.” “Have you got practice with this skill?” “Yeah, I used it a few times in the alpha, but back then, the << **Hate** >> Mechanic didn’t exist.” “Okay, I think I know what we’ll do. Irelia should hide somewhere secluded whilst channeling, not letting the boss see her. He’ll just have the hate but not the player. Once the skill is fully charged, we’ll get him to flinch so that she can hit it right in the weakspot.”

And then, the raid party erupted in cheers.

“Let’s do this!” Lind called as everybody went into the boss chamber, which was roughly 20m high and wide with 150m in the length department.

At the end of said chamber, a gigantic black Taurus stood, towering ten meters in height. His legs were as thick as tree trunks and his waist was covered in chainmail. Above the waist, his bare muscular chest shone, showing off his black fur. The head, as the name suggests, was the head of a bull, completed with six horns, a crown and raging red eyes. The last detail worth mentioning was that he held a gigantic hammer in both his hands.

As soon as Irelia entered the boss chambers, channeling << **Lightning Revolver** >>, she hid behind a pillar, hiding her effectively from both Asterius’ sight and his lightning breath and his sight.

A minute passed and not much happened. The boss unleashed his << **Numbing Detonation** >> skill several times, but all it did was get the raiders to use their << **Antidote Crystals** >> and healing potions.

The second minute passed much less successful as the Boss started to use his lightning breath attacks. Sinon managed to get the boss to abort the skill, other times it hit a few unfortunate players that weren’t fast enough to hide behind a pillar. Ultimately, it, still, did nothing in terms of casualties.

The three minutes after that were devastating, though. As Irelia continued to charge up her stacks, the boss’ hate became too much. Instead of firing his lightning breath along the chamber, he aimed at the pillar Irelia sat behind. Luckily for her, she didn’t take any damage nor aborted the channel. Also, the boss started to more frequently use his << **Numbing Detonation** >> skill. When the three minutes ended, most of the raid party used up a good half of their healing items and equipment durability. This is when Irelia finally stepped out of her cover.

“Sinon, could you hit his crown, please?” Instead of replying verbally, Sinon simply threw a well-aimed throwing pick at the boss’ head, hitting him in his weakspot.

The boss flinched.

Irelia positioned her blades in front of Asterius’ head, herself close beneath him, aiming her << **Lightning Revolver** >> to hit the crown. And then, the boss’ HP bars disappeared relatively quickly as the blades began their relentless assault. After the << **Lightning Revolver** >> was done, the boss still, surprisingly, had a HP bar left. It entered rage mode and was, as Irelia would later put it, highly and royally pissed.

He stomped the ground repeatedly, stunning everybody in the chamber for three seconds. Irelia, having used her << **Chronokeeper** >> on penalty range (11m), took quite a lot of damage. The fact that she was close to the epicenter of the impact didn’t help either.

After the damage was dealt, Irelia was down to 20% of her max HP, whilst others were barely scratched, albeit also being stunned. In the background, one could hear Asuna’s ear-piercing scream of horror.

One second passed.

Irelia watched in horror as Asterius started charging up his Lightning Breath, aiming to eliminate the whole party at once. She got out her first << **Antidote Crystal** >> and a << **Lesser Healing Crystal** >>. In her peripheral vision, she saw Asuna, Kirito and Sinon getting << **Antidote Crystals** >> of their own out, un-stunning themselves.

Another second passed.

Irelia’s stun was gone and her HP were recovering. The only thing she could do was try and hit the Boss’ crown one more time to prevent him from wiping out the entire party. She got one of her blades to do so. It hit. Only Kirito and Sinon saw Asuna’s sigh of relief when it did so.

The boss veered back as his weak spot was hit, although no visible damage showed up on his HP bar. Apparently any tiny amount of damage to that crown of his would make him flinch.

And then, Kirito and Asuna were with her, Sinon providing ranged support from behind.

“Irelia, we’re going to bring the boss down and buy some time for them to recover and heal up. Asuna will open, I’ll switch with her and you’ll join in the end. Try to make use of some safer method to damage him this time.”

And with that, they sprinted towards the boss. Asuna opened with a << **Quadruple Pain** >> and a <<Linear>>, stunning the boss. Unfortunately for her, the boss had the << **Tenacious** >> buff, which halved the one-second stun, enabling him to smack her with his hammer.

A jolt of fear shot through Irelia as she saw Asuna get knocked back, only to be replaced by a sense of relief shortly after. The boss did do quite some damage, but Asuna held through it, having roughly 75% of her HP left.

Kirito then followed up, starting with a << **Rage Spike** >> and a << **Slant** >>. The boss wasn’t stunned, but couldn’t strike back due to the fact that his hammer was too bulky to hit Kirito after just having hit Asuna.

In the end, it was Irelia’s turn. Three well placed throwing picks, thrown expertly by Sinon, hit their marks. One hit the crown, making the boss flinch and stagger. The other two hit its eyes, blinding the boss and making him veer backwards even further.

Irelia, seeing this, immediately jumped up, dashing towards his head. Due to his torso being bent by 45 degrees, she succeeded. Aiming her << **Diagonal Hexagon** >> at the crown, she charged. The sword skill hit home. The boss staggered back even further, falling on its back as result.

“Guys let’s finish this!” Agil screamed, charging forwards and bringing his battleaxe down on Asterius’ legs. The rest of the raid party quickly followed.

Seeing the boss’ HP bar quickly dissipate, Irelia used << **Quadruple Pain** >> on the crown, effectively, and luckily, gaining the << **Last-Attack Bonus** >> off Asterius.

As the Taurus king exploded and the congratulations screen popped up, everybody cheered. After half an hour, they opened the door to the third floor.

Eventually, Maho checked her << **Last-Attack Bonus** >>, which was an item called << **Coat of Sunset** >>. Upon further inspection, she found out that her << **Scavenger** >> attribute on her << **Mimung** >> actually got her a second item. A ring called << **Signet of the Cold** >>. It apparently reduced 5% of the damage taken but converted half of it into durability damage on the ring.

Maho, Shino and Kazuto were sitting in the latter two’s hotel room, discussing the outcome of the boss fight. Asuna was split up from the group, getting a bit of grinding done on the newly opened floor.

“Maho, you know that I was worried sick when that thing didn’t die, don’t you?” Sinon asked, the shock about the situation briefly resurfacing.

“Yea, sorry about that, Shino. Apparently Kayaba still buffed the boss.” Maho replied, exasperation in her voice once more.

Then, Kirito brought up an entirely other concern of the black-haired girl; Asuna. “I think you should go and talk with Asuna. She was pretty shocked about the boss not dying. Also, I imagine that she’d be pretty mad about you right about now.”

And then, Maho looked up. ‘ _Oh shit I have completely forgotten Asuna. She just didn’t mention it and went off…_ ’ Deeming it rational to not do more damage by blocking her sibling out, Maho decided to meet Asuna right away.

After she left, Shino and Kazuto looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. ‘ _She’s gonna be in so much trouble._ ’

**To Be Continued.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: hey, so you made it! I already said that this chapter will be a long one, didn’t I?  
> If you have some questions that need answering (or like the story), leave a review. It shows me that people still enjoy this story enough to give the author a bit of feedback. If you found a typo/grammar/plot error, leave a PM. If you like the story, feel free to follow or favorite.  
> Constructive criticism is always appreciated as is any kind of feedback.  
> Thanks for reading!  
> Ja ne!  
> ~Irelia Yuuki

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: That was quite the prologue, wasn't it? Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. As always, Feedback and constructive criticism much appreciated and thanks for reading. Leave a PM if you find any typos/grammar errors.
> 
> That's all. Yours truly,
> 
> ~Irelia Yuuki.


End file.
